ML389917371
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Observation details
I flushed a lone sparrow species from the thick damp area just above 1.7-mile parking area, and it began calling with a very loud "smack" call (turn up volume in recording). I can rule out junco's smack since I saw it in low flight as it moved and dropped back into the dense vegetation and it was all brown dorsally, no white tail edges, definitely a sparrow species. At first I thought Swamp or Song Sparrow but the call is wrong, neither the "chimp" of SOSP nor the "chip" (distinctive on a spectrogram) of SWSP. Looking at my recording, I think it's either Lincoln's Sparrow's chip, described in Pieplow's books as "sharp, almost a smack" or Sooty Fox Sparrow's smack, described as "very sharp, loud". Looking at the spectrogram, and comparing both FOSP and LISP, I'm thinking Fox Sparrow because according to Pieplow's book (p. 531) in LISP the notes are sharply downslurred (what makes it technically a chip), whereas in the true smack of FOSP the note is long and straight, as in my recording. The LISP recordings I listened to sounded too high, a bit too sharp compared to my recording. In addition, the smack notes of FOSP smudge out to the right (as mine does) and LISP do not (e.g., compare https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/peterson-field-guide-to-bird-sounds/?speciesCode=linspa&species=Lincoln%27s%20Sparrow%20-%20Melospiza%20lincolnii and https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/peterson-field-guide-to-bird-sounds/?speciesCode=foxsp2&species=Fox%20Sparrow%20(Sooty)%20-%20Passerella%20iliaca%20[unalaschcensis%20Group]). I'll gladly correct this ID if I'm wrong!
Technical information
- Recorder
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 1.14 MB