115. Notes on the vocalizations of White-throated Spadebill (Platyrinchus mystaceus)
Peter F. D. Boesman
2016
Ornithological Notes
In the following we briefly analyze and compare voice of the different races of White-throated Spadebill (Platyrinchus mystaceus). We also try to quantify the extent of any vocal differences using the criteria proposed by Tobias et al. (2010) , as a support for taxonomic review. We have made use of sound recordings available on-line from Xeno Canto (XC) and Macaulay Library (ML). White-throated Spadebill is typically detected in the field by its day-time voice, abrupt single or multiple calls.
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... uch less known is its song, which is mostly given at dawn and early morning. As a consequence, despite being a fairly common bird in most of its range, there are relatively few recordings of its song. The song is a trilled sequence of notes, and features are somewhat variable depending on the excitement of the bird (e.g. after playback). As such, there is more variation in this analysis of the recordings than would probably be the case if only song under natural conditions would be analyzed. Nevertheless, the analysis showed some very interesting results. We studied 5 groups (Fig. 1) : the W Andean group (neglectus, albogularis)(no recordings of perijanus) The song is a series of rising notes, introductory note is typically lowest in pitch and longer than subsequent notes. The E Andean group (zamorae) The song is a series of rising notes, introductory note is typically lowest in pitch and longer than subsequent notes. Very similar to the previous group. The S Andean group (partridgei) The song is a series of notes, first falling then rising, introductory and end note are thus more or less on same pitch. The Caribbean group (insularis)(no recordings of imatacae, ptaritepui, duidae, ventralis) The song is a series of falling notes, well separated introductory note highest in pitch and longer than subsequent notes, which are given at a much faster pace than previous group. The Brazilian group (mystaceus, cancromus)(no recordings of bifasciatus, niveigularis) The song is a series of falling notes, introductory note highest in pitch and longer than subsequent notes, which are given at a much faster pace than group 1-3. Overall very similar to group 4. We have measured basic sound parameters for all available recordings of song (n=29).
doi:10.2173/bow-on.100115
fatcat:3wyqtxjxvbh4rmyznf3zkxrtja