Song variation in a population of chestnut-sided warblers (Dendroica pensylvanica): its nature and suggested significance

1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 1266-1283 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ross Lein
Keyword(s):  
New Hampshire ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Song Variation ◽  
Dendroica Pensylvanica ◽  
Song Types

Song variation in a population of chestnut-sided warblers (Dendroica pensylvanica) was investigated during 1970–1972 in Hillsboro County, New Hampshire. Five song types, which appear to be shared by all males in the local population, are described and are used differentially by the birds. Two 'accented ending' song types are used primarily by undisturbed males located centrally on their territories. Two 'unaccented ending' song types are used in territorial encounters, or when a male is located peripherally on his territory. The fifth type, 'jumbled song,' is used almost exclusively during territorial encounters. There is no evidence of special association of any of the types with male–female interactions. It is suggested that the song types form a graded series of signals, increasing the efficiency of male–male communication by transmitting more precise messages than would be possible with only a single song type.

Distribution and Variability of Song Types in the Wood Thrush

Behaviour ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 103 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 49-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl L. Whitney ◽  
Joan Miller
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Variation ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Geographical Range ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Wood Thrush ◽  
Relative Abundances ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Over Time

AbstractCompared to the song of other oscine species, wood thrush song shows little macro-geographical variation: 1) Most song types defined for a local population are widespread over the geographical range, 2) the relative abundances of different song types are similar in samples taken from different locations, and 3) a given song type is no more variable in structure over the geographical range than within a local population. Wood thrush song also shows little microgeographical variation. The degree of song type sharing does not vary as a function of the distance between males in a local population. Song remains stable over time in a local population, as indicated by a similarity in the relative abundances of song types in samples taken 14 years apart. Regarding the distribution of song types among repertoires, 1) Different combinations of song types within repertoires occur no more or less often than expected by chance, 2) different versions of a single song type are distributed at random among repertoires, 3) large repertoires do not contain a greater proportion of rare (unclassified) songs than small repertoires, and 4) rare songs are not clustered in the repertoires of certain individuals.

The Significance of Song Variation in a Population of Darwin's Finches

Behaviour ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 89 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 90-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.R. Grant
Keyword(s):  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Recognition System ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Song Variation ◽  
Breeding Territory ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Song Types

AbstractMales of Geospiza conirostris, the large cactus finch, on Isla Genovesa, Galápagos, sing a single, precisely copied song. There are two song types in the population, and these are sub-divided into 3 and 5 discrete song sub-types respectively. Adult males sing only one song sub-type throughout life. Sons sing the same song sub-type as their fathers' and do not copy the songs of either natal or breeding territory neighbours. Significantly more of the males holding territories with neighbours of unlike (heterotypic) song type obtain a female than males in territories with no heterotypic neighbour. Pairs in territories with a heterotypic neighbour fledge significantly more young than do pairs in territories with no heterotypic neighbour. Significantly more of those young born on territories with a heterotypic neighbour, that survive to become adults, obtain a mate, than do those surviving young born on territories with no heterotypic neighbour. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the relative greater importance of song for species recognition in this population has made it advantageous for males to have a single, short, distinct, precisely copied and stable song. The necessity for recognizing both song types as conspecific has produced a unique mating pattern which favours pairs in territories with a heterotypic song neighbour. This allows young to associate visual and auditory cues of father and neighbouring male during the short period of imprinting. A small effective population size, combined with the observation that no female has been known to mate with a male of the same song sub-type as her father's, suggests a possible kin recognition system to avoid inbreeding.

Song Types and Variation in Insular Populations of Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza Lincolnii), and Comparisons With Other Melospiza

The Auk ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Cicero ◽  
Morgan Benowitz-Fredericks
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Repertoire Size ◽  
San Bernardino Mountains ◽  
Song Variation ◽  
Tree Patterns ◽  
Song Production ◽  
Melospiza Lincolnii ◽  
Song Types

Abstract In contrast to the Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) and Song Sparrow (M. melodia), vocal studies of the congeneric Lincoln's Sparrow (M. lincolnii) are essentially lacking. To provide comparative data on song variation in this species, we obtained and analyzed recordings from 58 males (4,537 songs) breeding in montane meadows of the Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino Mountains, California. Males sang from one to six song types, and repertoire size averaged 3.7 types. No two males shared an identical song type. Males varied their types by changing the number of repetitions of a syllable or by adding, deleting, or substituting one or more syllables (i.e. by changing syllable composition). The number of variants, identified on the basis of differences in syllable composition, averaged 2.6 per song type (range 1 to 12). Individual variability was highest in the terminal elements of the song. Production of variants appears to be a process of “open-ended improvisation” of song types. Similarity of songs on the basis of shared syllables, as calculated by simple matching coefficients, showed a strong pattern of concordance with geography. Pairwise similarity declined with increasing distance between meadows, and meadows from different geographic regions clustered separately in a UPGMA tree. Patterns of geographic variation in song of Lincoln's Sparrows are similar to those observed in Song Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows. Song complexity and repertoire size show different evolutionary trends within Melospiza.

Use of song types by the Chestnut-sided Warbler: evidence for both intra- and inter-sexual functions

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald E. Kroodsma ◽  
Rachel C. Bereson ◽  
Bruce E. Byers ◽  
Edith Minear
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Control Male ◽  
Wood Warbler ◽  
Dendroica Pensylvanica ◽  
Sexual Messages ◽  
Song Types ◽  
And Control

Males of many wood warbler (Parulinae) species use different song types in different contexts, yet the exact functions of the two main song type categories remain unclear. We studied the use of songs by both experimental (males whose mate had been removed from the territory) and control male Chestnut-sided Warblers (Dendroica pensylvanica) during the dawn hour and midmorning throughout the breeding season. Unpaired males sang more accented-ending songs and fewer unaccented-ending songs than paired males during all observation periods. Accented-ending songs appeared to be used primarily in the absence of intrasexual stimuli, and the percentage of unaccented-ending songs that was used during the nesting cycle appeared to fluctuate directly with the intensity of defense by the male of both his female and his territory. During courtship the male sang accented-ending songs on those infrequent occasions when he did sing in the immediate presence of his female, regardless of her location and the presence or absence of other males. These critical observations seem most consistent with the conclusion that the accented-ending songs are primarily intersexual. The unaccented- and accented-ending categories of song types appear to be used mainly as intra- and inter-sexual messages, respectively.

scholarly journals The Duet Code of the Female Black-Bellied Wren

The Condor ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 326-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Logue
Keyword(s):  
Animal Communication ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Female Response ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Vocal Responses ◽  
Vocal Signals ◽  
Behavioral Mechanisms ◽  
Song Types

Abstract In many duet-singing songbirds, paired birds combine their song types nonrandomly to form duet songs. Several different behavioral mechanisms could generate nonrandom song type associations in duets. I tested female Black-bellied Wrens (Thryothorus fasciatoventris) for one such mechanism: adherence to a set of rules linking female response songs to male stimulus songs. I call this set of rules a “duet code.” Duets of free-living Black-bellied Wrens were recorded in 2001 and 2002. In 2003 I returned to the same territories and played the male song types from the recorded duets. Females answered male song stimuli as if duetting with the playback speaker. Although the known repertoires of females averaged 8.4 song types, each female sang only a single song type in response to each male song type. Random answering could not account for this pattern, supporting the hypothesis that females abide by duet codes. Females that were still paired with their mates from 2001–2002 answered 100% of their mate's songs with the same song types they had used previously, demonstrating that codes are stable over time. In contrast, females that were new to a territory answered an average of only 18% of their mate's song types with the same song type as the previous female, indicating that duet codes are individually distinctive. Duet participation by female Black-bellied Wrens represents a special kind of animal communication, in which discrete vocal signals consistently elicit discrete vocal responses according to an individually distinctive set of rules.

Geographic Variation in Song of Gambel's White-Crowned Sparrow

Behaviour ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Species Recognition ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys ◽  
Song Recognition ◽  
Song Variation ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Dialect Recognition ◽  
Song Types

AbstractWhite-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) song varies geographically, often forming local 'dialects' in sedentary and short-distance migratory subspecies. In playback experiments males and females can distinguish this variation. Gambel's white-crowned sparrow (Z. L. gambelii) is a long-distance migrant that breeds across subarctic Canada and Alaska. Previous studies identified a wide degree of song variation within local populations of this subspecies. I compared songs recorded in Alaska and Churchill, Manitoba, and found significant differences in acoustic structure. As in other subspecies, the most prominent differences occurred in the terminal trill portion of the song. In a playback experiment to territorial males at Churchill, males gave equivalent strong responses to both Alaska and local gambelii song, significantly weaker responses to mountain white-crowned sparrow (Z. L. oriantha) song, and the weakest responses to heterospecific song. I describe a model of song recognition in which 'dialect recognition' is a component of species recognition. I conclude that as a consequence of differences in the timing of song learning, the subspecies of white-crowned sparrow may differ in the acoustic features that they attend to in song recognition. The diversity of song types at a local level within gambelii populations may interfere with recognizing song differences between populations.

scholarly journals Deceptive vocal duets and multimodal display in a songbird

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1864) ◽  
pp. 20171774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Ręk ◽  
Robert D. Magrath
Keyword(s):  
Group Living ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Reliable Information ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Visual Displays ◽  
Visual Component ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Multimodal Signalling ◽  
Australian Magpie ◽  
Vocal Duets

Many group-living animals cooperatively signal to defend resources, but what stops deceptive signalling to competitors about coalition strength? Cooperative-signalling species include mated pairs of birds that sing duets to defend their territory. Individuals of these species sometimes sing ‘pseudo-duets’ by mimicking their partner's contribution, but it is unknown if these songs are deceptive, or why duets are normally reliable. We studied pseudo-duets in Australian magpie-larks, Grallina cyanoleuca , and tested whether multimodal signalling constrains deception. Magpie-larks give antiphonal duets coordinated with a visual display, with each sex typically choosing a different song type within the duet. Individuals produced pseudo-duets almost exclusively during nesting when partners were apart, but the two song types were used in sequence rather than antiphonally. Strikingly, birds hid and gave no visual displays, implying deceptive suppression of information. Acoustic playbacks showed that pseudo-duets provoked the same response from residents as true duets, regardless of whether they were sequential or antiphonal, and stronger response than that to true duets consisting of a single song type. By contrast, experiments with robot models showed that songs accompanied by movements of two birds prompted stronger responses than songs accompanied by movements of one bird, irrespective of the number of song types or singers. We conclude that magpie-larks used deceptive pseudo-duets when partners were apart, and suppressed the visual display to maintain the subterfuge. We suggest that the visual component of many species' duets provides the most reliable information about the number of signallers and may have evolved to maintain honesty in duet communication.

scholarly journals Song Variation Among CISTOTHORUS Wrens, With a Focus on the MÉrida Wren

The Condor ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-861
Author(s):  
Donald E. Kroodsma ◽  
Krista Wilda ◽  
Viviana Salas ◽  
Roldan Muradian
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Repertoire Size ◽  
Song Repertoire ◽  
Song Variation ◽  
New Type ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Site Faithfulness

Abstract Evidence from two Cistothorus wrens (C. palustris, C. platensis) has suggested that repertoire size increases with population density and that song imitators are more likely to be site faithful than are song improvisers. We tested these two ideas on a third species, C. meridae, an endemic to the Venezuelan Andes. Of the three Cistothorus wrens, song repertoire sizes of male Mérida Wrens are the smallest, ranging from 18 to 27 song types per male; Mérida Wrens are also most likely to repeat each type several times before switching to a new type. Density of Mérida Wrens was also lowest, from 0.4 to 2.0 territories per 10 ha. These wrens are highly site faithful, with marked microgeographic song variation. Female Mérida Wrens also sing. Overall, data from the Mérida Wren support the ideas that, among Cistothorus wrens, song repertoire sizes increase with population density and site faithfulness promotes song imitation. Variación en el Canto en Cistothorus, con Énfasis en C. meridae Resumen. La evidencia proveniente de dos especies del género Cistothorus (C. palustris, C. platensis) sugiere que el tamaño del repertorio aumenta con la densidad poblacional y que los imitadores de cantos tienen una mayor probabilidad de ser territoriales que los que improvisan. Estas dos ideas fueron probadas en una tercera especie endémica de los Andes venezolanos, C. meridae. El tamaño del repertorio del canto de esta especie, con 18 a 27 tipos de canto por macho, es el más pequeño de estas tres especies. C. meridae también tiene una mayor probabilidad de repetir cada tipo de canto varias veces antes de cambiar a un tipo nuevo. La densidad de C. meridae también fue la menor, con 0.4 a 2.0 territorios por cada 10 hectáreas. C. meridae es muy territorial, con una marcada variación microgeográfica en las cantos. Las hembras de esta especie también cantan. En resumen, estos datos apoyan las ideas de que en el género Cistothorus, el tamaño del repertorio del canto aumenta con la densidad poblacional y que la territorialidad promueve la imitación de cantos.

Song Sharing and Local Dialects in a Population of the European Wren Troglodytes Troglodytes

Behaviour ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 125 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 67-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive K. Catchpole ◽  
Armanda Rowell
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Open Water ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Song Sharing ◽  
Song Types

AbstractSongs were recorded from a local population of 13 male wrens at Wraysbury Lakes, Berkshire, U.K. during 1991. Sonagraphic analysis revealed that there were 15 distinct song types in the population, and that each male had between three and six song types in his repertoire. Song sharing between neighbouring males was particularly high. Six of the males in the population were on the east bank of the lake, separated from the other seven on the west bank by 200 metres of open water. Although three song types were distributed over the whole area, six were unique to the east bank and six to the west. Any male could be classified as an east or west bank male, by the possession of several distinct song types unique to each 'dialect' area. So far, clear examples of dialects have been largely restricted to species with only one or two song types in their repertoires. Song sharing and the development of local dialects in the wren are discussed in relation to current views on mechanisms of social learning in songbirds.

scholarly journals Dawn singing behavior of a tropical bird species, the Pied Bush Chat Saxicola caprata

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinaya Kumar Sethi ◽  
Dinesh Bhatt ◽  
Amit Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Social Relationship ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Sequential Pattern ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Singing Behavior ◽  
Dawn Song ◽  
Song Types

This paper aims to study the structure and pattern of dawn song in a tropical avian species, the Pied Bush Chat (Saxicola caprata) in Haridwar (290 55’ N, 780 08’ E; Uttarakhand, India) in 2009. Males delivered complex dawn chorus on daily basis during only breeding season (February to July). The dawn song bout was made up of a number of distinct sections called song types. Each song type consisted of a series of similar or dissimilar units referred to as elements. Song type length averaged 1.43±0.23 sec and did not differ significantly among males. Theaverage number and types of elements in a song type were observed 8.15±1.64 and 8.01±1.56, respectively.In more than 80% of observations, song types were delivered with immediate variety and males did not follow any definite sequential pattern of song delivery. Males sang continuously for about 30 min at high rates during dawn. Males performed continuous dawn singing throughout the breeding season and seemed to interact vocally through counter-singing for extended period. Observations suggest that dawn song delivery in Pied Bush Chat plays an important role in maintenance and adjustment of social relationship among neighbouring males.

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