[obol] Alder Flycatcher at Malheur?

[Joel Geier]

On 1 Jun 2007 Tim Rodenkirk wrote:

> ... I remember hearing Alders in N. Minnesota a few years
> ago and thinking that they were singing freeBEER - if there
> was a third syllable in there I missed it ...

Hi Tim & All,

Northern Minnesota Alder Flycatchers do include more syllables but they
very faint, and in between the two syllables you heard. So not "free
BEER" but "three (point-two) BEER."

This phrase is usually heard best in their evening song, when you can
also hear an additional, buzzy phrase that sounds like, "OFF-sale in-
BARS." The ones on the Mesabi Range append a very rapid sequence to
this, which to my ear sounds like "orTRYthe, municipalLIQuorstore-in
KeeWATin."

Alder flycatchers in southern Minnesota are less well understood,
perhaps because there is better beer. As they say in New Ulm:

"Alder Flycatchers in alder damt verld vouldn't make me dieser bottle of
Schells down-putten."

For similar reasons there is a lack of knowledge about alder warblers,
alder ducks, and alder damt ducks vot fliegen durch die region.

Happy birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area near the newly dry town of Adair Village