What bird is this?

April 9, 2022 7:28 PM

This bird was in my backyard but I couldn't see them. I couldn't find the bird call in my (limited) research. Who is this?
posted by DMelanogaster to Pets & Animals (17 answers total)

Response by poster: uh oh the link didn't come out !!!

Here is the birdsong
posted by DMelanogaster at 7:29 PM on April 9, 2022

Where are you located?
posted by Gray Duck at 7:40 PM on April 9, 2022

According to the Merlin app by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which lets you upload audio files, it might be a blue jay, but that doesn't seem like a perfect match. If you plug in your location (I guessed NYC based on the url), you may get better results.
posted by enigmango at 7:40 PM on April 9, 2022

I am not an ornithologist, but I am a person who regularly gets blue jays at her backyard feeder - and that is NOT a blue jay.

A starling, perhaps?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:45 PM on April 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I am in NYC. Yes, not a bluejay. That's the first one I looked up, because they always come around, and I'm sort of familiar with their song. This is very different. I also looked up a couple of YouTube videos with New York City birdsong and I didn't get a match.
posted by DMelanogaster at 7:52 PM on April 9, 2022

I think it sounds like a northern cardinal maybe? They have a big repertoire of song riffs ranging from more basic to more elaborate so they can be hard to recognize sometimes. But something about the timbre seems very cardinalish to me.
posted by drlith at 7:55 PM on April 9, 2022

Might be a raptor. A small hawk or falcon.
posted by Oyéah at 9:00 PM on April 9, 2022

It's a classic Blue Jay "rusty gate" sound, but you're right there's something a tiny bit off about it. Could be a starling, they are mimics (ours here does a perfect towhee) and have that electric quality to their voice.
posted by Freyja at 10:52 PM on April 9, 2022 [4 favorites]

Pretty sure it's a blue jay. Listen to piping notes #3 on the Audubon Field Guide. The pitch and the tempo are a little different, but that's it. You can also hear it in the recording labeled "piping calls of courting group". Your example may also sound a little odd due to reverb effects among buildings in the city.
posted by theory at 1:10 AM on April 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Cornell's birdNET strongly suggests bluejay too, try uploading the song here and see what you think.

(I work in ecology conservation, and I've been blown away by the accuracy of the birdNET app (Shazam for birdsong!) here in the UK at least)
posted by sarahdal at 2:37 AM on April 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

I agree with drlith, to me it sounds a lot like the cardinal that sang in my backyard in the spring, but that was admittedly 20 years ago
posted by Morpeth at 4:04 AM on April 10, 2022

Best answer: I'm pretty confident it's a blue jay (though I like the idea of a starling mimicking a blue jay as well). Blue jays have a surprising variety of songs & calls. I can't count the number of times I've heard a "weird bird call" nearby, gotten excited about seeing an unusual bird, and then been disappointed when I spotted a blue jay on a nearby branch.

Tufted titmice are also frequently guilty of this sort of deception (though that's not what you recorded here.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:37 AM on April 10, 2022 [5 favorites]

Odd. Cardinals here peep, high-pitched. I had 2 mated pairs come talk to me yesterday, requesting I put some food out. I have ducks, and also feed deer, and the cardinals are especially fond of the deer feed. I saved a male from a cat a couple years ago, and I think they know I like them.

Much of the time when I check out a birdcall, it ends up being a Carolina Wren. LOL. They are loud, for such small birds. Best thing about my place is the birds and other wildlife. But the birds are just little engines of good karma, delight and joy, with feathers.
posted by Goofyy at 6:00 AM on April 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Blue Jay's have so many different calls. I didn't know what this call was either until I saw the jay making it. I am pretty sure it is blue jay.
posted by ReluctantViking at 6:18 AM on April 10, 2022

Response by poster: It's so musical for a bluejay! but yeah, from now on I'm going to spend more time out there and try really hard to SEE the bird that's making this call!
posted by DMelanogaster at 9:04 AM on April 10, 2022

That's how my backyard bluejays sound.
posted by Miko at 10:02 AM on April 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

This sound immediately took me back to my grandmother's backyard. It was always full of bluejays.
posted by banjonaut at 11:58 AM on April 10, 2022 [1 favorite]