On Mon, Jul 20, 2026 at 3:52 PM Cheryl Vellenga via groups.io <killdeer54=
<yahoo.com...> wrote:
> The admonition to "trust but verify" when using either the Merlin app or
> our own ear-birding skills is as important as ever and even more
> challenging when a myriad of new bird sounds bombard us during this period
> of the breeding season. I'll share a few of my own recent experiences to
> underscore this reminder.
>
> In the past couple of weeks I've been hearing clear, emphatic, perfectly
> rendered ovenbird songs in my yard. Initially, I was confused because if
> there were breeders in the yard I would've been hearing them all summer,
> which I hadn't this year since spring migration. That alone was enough to
> keep me from reporting it until I could verify the observation. In the
> ensuing days, amidst the cacophony, I would hear the song on occasion,
> always out of nowhere, sung once (TEACHer repeated 5-7x), and that was it,
> so there was no chance of getting a recording. Yesterday, I finally caught
> an American Goldfinch belting out the song and immediately going into
> typical Goldfinch song. A Google search on the phenomenon schooled me on
> the talented mimicry of American Goldfinches and that one of their favorite
> birds to mimic is the Ovenbird because of the song's simplicity and
> clarity. The last 2 weeks of July are when the breeding season (and thus
> the singing) of Ovenbirds is ending but the Goldfinch breeding season (and
> their singing) is at its peak.
>
> There've been several House Wren pairs nesting around the yard as usual,
> and one couple nested in a large wiring conduit elbow that goes to the
> transformer near the deck, making it easy to watch the family's progress.
> When the nestlings began vocalizing their raspy, ardent begging calls,
> Merlin always, and I mean always, called them Marsh Wrens. It had done
> this off and on throughout the summer but I ignored the ID when it was in
> the yard.
>
> For the past several days, I've been hearing and recording calls that I
> couldn't place and Merlin absolutely will not ID. Days of sleuthing
> revealed finally that the calls are coming from the many Rose-breasted
> Grosbeak fledglings that were being fed in the surrounding trees by the
> parents, but are now coming to the feeders themselves. The Sibley app
> lists the calls as "teeyoo calls (immature)" and "turlee calls
> (immature)". Merlin does not recognize these calls even when I play them
> right on my phone with Merlin listening.
>
> This morning, Merlin ID'd an American Robin in the yard as a Northern
> Flicker because the cadence was correct.
>
> I love using Merlin as an aid, especially in alerting me that certain
> birds may be nearby. I can listen for them myself to verify its findings
> or I can look for the birds if need be. Knowing that Merlin uses
> spectrograms to ID bird sounds reminds us that a matching spectrogram, if
> made by a skilled mimic (or even baby House Wrens), will be matched to a
> corresponding graph in Merlin's database.
>
>
>
>
>
> *Cheryl VellengaSisseton, SD*
>
>
>
