A bell-like trill

[vaneramos]

Friday afternoon: clouds near Caledon

Another photo is posted in weather_pics.


Every year I participate in the North American Breeding Bird Survey. I wake up before dawn one morning in late June and drive 40 kilometres through cottage country, making frequent stops to identify every bird I can see or hear. Most counting is done by ear, so I have to recognize every song I'm likely to encounter. Some are unforgettable, like the weird call of an American bittern, but others require an annual refresher. Yesterday afternoon was spent downloading sound files for a reference disc.

Some vocalizations are harder to distinguish. I'm perplexed by the bell-like trills of the chipping sparrow, pine warbler and dark-eyed junco. Sometimes circumstances are a giveaway. Along the Eramosa River in winter, it could only be a junco.

Starting my route at 4:54 a.m. at the gas station in Dwight surrounded by statuesque white pines with the air full of overlapping trills, I'm almost certain they're pine warblers. But in the dawn light I can't fix my binoculars on a single bird. Every year I promise myself I'll go there a day ahead, with the luxury of standing for an hour until one singer shows his head and solves the problem once and for all.