Audio Music Monitoring: Analyzing Current Techniques for Song Recognition and Identification

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.

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Responses To Songs With Altered Tonal Quality By Adult Song Sparrows (Melospiza Melodia)

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/156853996x00099 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 133 (3-4) ◽

pp. 161-172 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Stephen Nowicki ◽

Jared Strote

Keyword(s):

Adult Male ◽

Distinctive Feature ◽

Pure Tone ◽

Playback Experiments ◽

Perceptual Salience ◽

Song Recognition ◽

Song Sparrows ◽

Sensitive Phase ◽

Pure Tones

AbstractPure-tone sounds are a common and distinctive feature of many birdsongs. We used field playback experiments to test whether this tonal quality is perceptually salient to adult male song sparrows in the context of song recognition, by comparing responses to playback of normal songs with responses elicited by songs that had harmonics added. This species was chosen for study based on the recent finding that young song sparrows do not show a preference for songs with pure tones over songs with harmonics when choosing model songs to copy during their sensitive phase for learning. We found adult song sparrows to be significantly more responsive to normal song than to harmonic song, consistent with results from adult birds of other species. We conclude that the perceptual salience of the tonal quality of song changes during ontogeny or is context-dependent.

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Responses of Adult White-Crowned Sparrows to Playback of Song Phrases: Implications for the Ontogeny of Song Recognition

The Condor ◽

10.1093/condor/104.4.848 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 104 (4) ◽

pp. 848-854 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jill A. Soha ◽

Carol Whaling

Keyword(s):

Developmental Change ◽

Song Learning ◽

Melospiza Melodia ◽

Territorial Behavior ◽

Song Sparrow ◽

Vocal Response ◽

Adult Males ◽

Zonotrichia Leucophrys ◽

Song Recognition ◽

Song Types

Abstract We examined the contribution of individual song phrases to territorial behavior in Nuttall's White-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli) in the Bodega, California, dialect area. We presented territorial adult males with playbacks of five song types: local conspecific song, three single phrase types of local conspecific song, and Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) song. Local conspecific song evoked the strongest response, measured in latency to flight, number of flights, average and closest distance from playback speaker, and vocal response. Of individual song phrases, the trill evoked the strongest response, and the whistle evoked the weakest. Combining these results with those of previous studies on young birds, we describe a model of developmental change from responsiveness to all phrase types in dependent fledglings, through reliance on a species-universal phrase as a cue for song learning, to the use of a more variable, dialect-distinct phrase as a territorial signal by adults. Respuestas de Adultos de Zonotrichia leucophrys al Playback de Cantos: Implicancias para la Ontogenia del Reconocimiento de Cantos Resumen. Examinamos la contribución de frases individuales de canto al comportamiento territorial de Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli en el área del dialecto de Bodega, California. Enfrentamos a machos adultos territoriales con playbacks de cinco tipos de canto: canto local de aves coespecíficas, tres tipos de frases individuales de canto local de aves coespecíficas, y canto de Melospiza melodia. El canto local de aves coespecíficas produjo la respuesta más fuerte, medida como latencia a volar, número de vuelos, distancia media y mínima a la estación de playback, y respuesta vocal. De las frases individuales de canto, el trino produjo la respuesta más fuerte y el silbido la más débil. Combinando estos resultados con aquellos de estudios anteriores en aves jóvenes, describimos un modelo de cambio en las etapas del desarrollo del canto que va desde la respuesta a todos los tipos de frases en volantones dependientes, pasando por una etapa de dependencia de una frase común a todas las especies como guía para aprender cantos, hasta el uso de una frase dialéctica distintiva como señal territorial en los adultos.

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