A co-worker of mine and I were recently having a conversation about using context clues, and habitat, to help ID a bird by song. If you can narrow a song down to a few species based on the habitat you're in, the ID won't be so difficult. Easy concept, right?

This morning I was walking along, in a Pinon/Juniper hillside in western Colorado, when I heard a Vireo song. I was able to narrow it down to Plumbeous/Gray, and I decided that the notes were too fast and clear to be a Plumbeous; a Gray Vireo. No biggie, it was about the 10th Gray Vireo I had heard.

I looked up ahead of me and saw the bird singing, and it appeared very large for a Gray Vireo. I trained my binoculars on the bird, and I had a first year Cassin's Finch. At first I didn't think that the bird I was looking at was the bird singing. I kept my eye on the finch, and everytime the "Gray Vireo" would sing, the Cassin's Finch had it's bill open, pointed skyward, full of song.

I don't know much about Cassin's Finch as they're learning how to sing. Maybe they often sound like Gray Vireo, and I've just never noticed it because I've never heard that type of song come from a Cassin's in a Pinon/Juniper Habitat. Or, maybe Cassin's Finches, like some other finches, practice mimicry sometimes; if so, there were plenty of Gray Vireos they could pick up the song from.

Has anyone else heard a similar song from a Cassin's Finch, or has anyone ever heard them mimic another species?

Good day today. I also had a Northern Saw-Whet Owl calling on a point!

Love and cherish birds and all things.

Carl

Last night I camped in a beautiful location near Naturita, Colorado. A Common Poorwill was singing me to sleep.

This morning's transect was pretty nice before the rain came. I had a handful of Sage Sparrows, Vesper Sparrows, Brewer's Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, Lark Sparrows, Spotted Towhees, Ash-throated Flycatchers, Gray Flycatchers, and Say's Phoebes.

The rain started to come down pretty hard around the middle of my transect, so I headed back, hoping to avoid slippery roads. The traction wasn't too bad on my 7 mile drive out, and the rental Kia handled pretty well. It's continued to rain since I left, and I'm assuming the roads are impassable now.

Rainy, rainy, rainy. The Naturita library doesn't open until 10:00, so I'm wasting time, bumming internet off the visitor center (which is also closed; I'm sitting in the parking lot on my laptop).

I guess this is more of a listserv post, but oh well. Life is grand and I enjoy being a field tech.

Carl

Well, the field season has started, and I'll be doing surveys in western Colorado this year. I can promise you all entertaining stories from up and down the Western Slope, but I can't promise you any good Utah bird sightings this summer :(.

I hope that is okay with everyone, and I hope you all don't vote to kick me off the blog as I'll no longer primarily be a "Utah Birder." I promise to write a lot in the field, and I'll share with you whenever I'm home.

So far I've found that Colorado has just as many lions, rattlesnakes, coyotes and scorpions. They have more Sage Sparrows and Palm Warblers & less Snowy Plovers and Arches. Should be a fun season.

Carl