Golden-crowned sparrow
Chapter 10: More birds! More Sounds!
Subchapter: More birds! More Sounds!—Americas
From page 169 in the book.
This golden-crowned bird is in the genus Zonotrichia, making it a close relative of the white-crowned and white-throated sparrows. Like the white-throats and white-crowns, each male golden-crown is believed to have just one song. To quote the Birds of North America website, there's "No evidence that males sing >1 song type each," but the BNA also says ". . . little is known about patterns of individual or spatial variation in Golden-crowned Sparrow song." There's an opening for the curious naturalist who loves the far north! For starters, listen to this one male from Alaska. Doesn't it sound as if he has two different songs? Is he atypical? Wish we had recordings of his neighbors . . .
♫697. Ohhhhh, deeaaar mee, he seems to sing, but he seems to have two different songs. The first occurs seven times until 1:15, but then a second, longer variant occurs at 1:25. You can hear a local white-crowned sparrow in the background (best heard beginning about 1:10). Enjoy this bit of Alaska. June 15, 2015. Mile post 34, Denali Highway, Alaska. (2:43)