Oscine Passerines, in general, learn their songs from their adults, and in=
populations that are isolated from others or that are resident in an area
the songs often evolve with time into distinct dialects. The more insular
the population is, the more likely it is to develop dialectic differences.=
White-crowned Sparrows are the poster child for this phenomenon. They
migrate, but they stay together as a population, and rarely mix with
others. At my home in central Arizona I am on their migration path from
Mexico to the mountains of Arizona, Colorado, and farther north. The
Arizona birds stay with me all winter and leave in the spring, so I become=
very familiar with their particular song types. When I hear this in the
summer up in the mountains, I know they are "my" birds. By the same token,=
when I vacation in the high mountains of Colorado, I hear a different
dialect, and I can tell when one of those birds is passing through my yard=
in Arizona during the spring migration. They are very distinct.
As to individual signature styles, I remember a single House Finch that
used a new ending to his song, kind of a coda-flourish that no others were=
using. I first heard him in Sedona, Arizona, about 10 years ago. As time
went on more and more Sedona House Finches picked up that ending started
using it in their songs. Now I hear it at my home in Clarkdale, 25 miles
away. That new twist to the song was apparently so catchy that it was
adopted far and wide! The innovative individual is probably a famous House=
Finch!
Occasionally I hear something new in a familiar song, so I know that
individuals try out new twists from time to time.
One of the examples I use when speaking to groups about learning bird song=
is the "style" metaphor. I tell them that they need to listen to the style=
and voice, not so much the particular song. As you say, if Frank Sinatra
sang rap, you could still tell it was Frank Sinatra! Birds are no different=
.
Doug
At 07:02 PM 5/25/2008, you wrote:
>I like the idea of a vocal "style" for all birds of the same species. I
>think of it as a particular "voice"--for example, you recognize the
>voices of people you know, even if they don't always say the same phrases.
>Song sparrows are among the more variable, with each male having a
>repertoire of 8 to 10 slightly different songs, so they can be
>bewildering. What have others noticed about variability in the calls
>and songs of birds? Any vocal signatures uttered by one individual? Is
>there an acoustic equivalent of the rare chickadee, crow, or robin with
>a few white feathers in its wing? I am always interested in how to
>distinguish one individual creature from another, in order to better
>study life histories. How about telling trees apart by the wind in
>their branches... That last one would be a challenge to record.
>
>As some on this list suggested, I did record the rooster in my backyard
>and made him into a truly obnoxious cell phone ring.
>
>Alexia Stevens
>Woodinville, Washington
><alexia%40mossycup.com>
>
>Doug Von Gausig wrote:
> >
> > At 09:03 AM 5/25/2008, you wrote:
> >
> > >John V. Moore, you wrote,
> > >
> > > > Yep..the "tink" is California Towee..not so sure on the Song
> > > > Sparrow. Pretty
> > > > sure it is NOT White-crowned.
> > >
> > >Thanks. I listened to some song sparrow samples from identification
> > >CDs. They're all different! How can you tell?
> > >
> > >-Dan
> >
> > Song sparrows have a particular "style" that they all use. It's a
> > combination of the high, clear piping notes and "burry", or "slurred"
> > notes, and usually a rapid trill. Not only do the birds in different
> > areas
> > sing different songs, but a single individual may go through 20 or so
> > variations in one performance. They usually sing the same song through
> > 5-10
> > iterations, then switch to another, then another, etc. But in any
> > case, the
> > song is a combination of piping, burry notes and trill that taken
> > together
> > are diagnostic of the species. Also the habitat is a strong indicator,
> > since Song Sparrows inhabit marshy areas, and most birds that can be
> > mistaken for them (Bewick's Wren, for instance) do not. The Song
> > Sparrow's
> > call (that slurred, nasal single tone) is diagnostic of the species.
> >
> > By the way, the Red-wings sound a little odd, are you sure they weren't
> > Tri-colored Blackbirds? Do the birds on your recording sound typical fo=
r
> > Red-winged in that area?
> >
> > Doug
> > ***************************************
> >
> >
> > <<http://naturesongs.com>http://naturesongs.com>
> >
>
>
***************************************
Doug Von Gausig
Natural Sounds and Photos at:
http://naturesongs.com
More Photos at:
http://www.criticaleyephoto.com
Clarkdale, Central Arizona, USA
***************************************
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