BirdNote; Cetti's Warbler

BirdNote®

Cetti’s Warbler - A History of a Mystery

Written by Rick Wright

This is BirdNote.

[Cetti’s Warbler (86199) 00:09]

The best way to learn a new bird song is to track it down and see the singer.

[Cetti’s Warbler (86171) 00:10]

Sometimes, that’s easier said than done. Birds can be notoriously difficult to spot, no matter how loud they are.

[Cetti’s Warbler (86145) 00:07]

In the case of the Cetti’s {CHETTy’s} Warbler, it took centuries to match the secretive singer to its disembodied song.

[Cetti’s Warbler (86199)]

The ancient Greeks knew of this little brown bird, but it wasn’t until 1819 that the

Italian naturalist Alberto della Marmora definitively identified the Cetti’s Warbler as the reclusive author of the familiar song.

[Cetti’s Warbler (86199)]

One day, Marmora was walking along the densely vegetated banks of the River Var, in the southeast of France, when he heard a song he thought he recognized.

[Cetti’s Warbler (86171) 00:10]

A well-aimed shotgun blast later, and Marmora knew for sure: the modestly plumaged little bird in his hand was responsible for those familiar phrases.

Forty years earlier, naturalist Francesco Cetti had guessed that this was the bird but had not been able to prove it. Marmora named the bird the Cetti’s Warbler, in his honor. Another of Nature's puzzles solved… and a mystery no more.

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

Support for BirdNote comes from Bloomsbury Wildlife, publisher of Antpittas and Gnateaters. This new book is a photographic guide to these elusive bird groups. Available now.

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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Cetti’s Warbler [86145, 86199, 86171] recorded by Arnoud B. van den Berg.

BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.

Producer: John Kessler

Managing Producer: Jason Saul

Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone

© 2017 Tune In to Nature.org September 2018 Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# CETWAR-01-2017-09-13 CETWAR-01