birding by ear

As many of the readers of this blog undoubtedly already know, I do a lot of my birding by ear and, over the years, I've learned most of the songs of Eastern birds and many of the calls. When I stepped out of the house early this morning, I was greeted by all three of our local warblers -- Pine and Yellow Warblers and Common Yellowthroat -- not because I saw them (or they saw me) but because they were all singing away on a fine sunny morning. As on Friday, there was some movement last night but the rapid increase in wind gusts throughout the morning made visual birding sometimes quite difficult. In East Quogue, at Hunters Garden and on the Bald Hill Trail, a fair number of warblers and other birds were identified but, with a few exceptions, mostly by sound: Blackburnian Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Blackpoll, Parula, Am Redstart, Black-and-White, Ovenbird, Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanager (plus Pine, Yellow and Yellowthroat, already mentioned) as well as Red-eyed Vireo, Indigo Bunting, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow & Brown Cowbird (these last all heard and seen). 

One "song" (really a call) really puzzles me. The yellowlegs that appear regularly on our pond and/or marsh open water almost always have a medium and rather straight bill and they always flush with a loud series of tchu-tchu-tchus -- a dozen of them or more. Since the bill is not upturned and since it almost never calls in threes, I am always tempted to call Lesser Yellowlegs. But the sharp tone and the medium length of the bill, as well as the frequent appearances of this bird (and the salt water habitat) tell me that it 'must' be a Greater Yellowlegs. I should add that the few times I have seen Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs together and when I have seen obvious Lesser Yellowlegs on fresh water edges, the bill of the Lesser seems almost as short as a Knot bill and the sound is usually a mellow two-note call. After all these years, I should be able to tell these birds apart more easily. Anyone have any comments or suggestions?

Eric Salzman