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Re: Understanding Pacific Chorus Frog Calls

Subject: Re: Understanding Pacific Chorus Frog Calls
From: "Rich Peet" richpeet
Date: Thu Apr 5, 2007 9:57 am ((PDT))
For frogs I think you have to think a bit more like being a prey
species.  When there are multiple sounds from multiple directions you
can not pick out the individual unless you are close.  This makes it
harder to become dinner because anything close other than another frog
is identified as a danger and the frogs shut up. To illustrate this I
walk up to a loud pond and clap my hands.  All the frogs shut up. When
one starts you can easily determine where in the sound field that frog
is but once a bunch get going they all are difficult to locate.
A 1 meg example:
http://home.comcast.net/~richpeet/westernchorus.mp3

Now with birds different things are working.  I notice that when I
start a sound trap near a species such as Song Sparrow he is singing
to beat the band.  After I have left for 5 mins he is quiet again and
may stay quiet for a few hours.  That bird was singing for me and that
becomes much more difficult to explain.

Rich Peet

> --- In  "davem98607" <davem98607@>
wrote:

> >
> > In listening to the recording I noticed that quite often the frogs
> > seemed to begin their "chorus" when a distant sound began to increase
> > in volume.  e.g. from an airplane or train.  I am guessing the frogs
> > are trying to scare off the "competitor" - or was this just a
> > coincidence?
> >






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