WE've had lots of vocal juncos trilling high in the trees around our
neighborhood. Chipping sparrows are back as well, and they prefer high singing
perches, I believe. That's my two cents.
Greg

Quoting "Lawrence, Miriam" <[log in to unmask]>:

> I still qualify as a relative newbie and am especially poor at birding by
> ear, so please forgive any less-than-brilliant questions I'm about to ask,
> but...
>
> This morning on Rt. 2 in Richmond, after dropping my son at at daycare, I
> heard a sweet trill high in the willow tree above me. I found the bird with
> my binos, but due to its height and the angle of view, as well as the sun,
> it was impossible to make out very much. What I could see of the underside
> was not very colorful -- from where I was standing it looked light gray
> underneath, and the beak looked blackish, but that was really all I could
> make out, and that only just barely.
>
> I think there's a good chance I was looking at a warbler, but obviously not
> at all certain -- it's even possible it was a sparrow, I couldn't make out
> the beak shape, although I would lay odds it was an insect-eating beak. The
> trill was certainly akin to a pine warbler's, but I could not make out any
> color at all on the bird I saw, and I was under the impression that a pine
> warbler would have looked more yellow.
>
> I'm wondering what, if any, other birds have a song that is a monotone rapid
> trill repeated at brief intervals, with no other defining characteristics,
> might fit the description I just gave, and might be found sitting perched on
> top of a willow tree (near woods).
>
> Anyone care to speculate?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Miriam Lawrence
> Monkton Ridge
>


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