Chatter-call harmonics in the North Island Saddleback: do they play a role in ranging?
Joseph F. Azar A B , Ben D. Bell A and K. C. Burns A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Centre for Biodiversity & Restoration Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6041, New Zealand.
B Corresponding author. Email: azar.joseph@gmail.com
Emu 113(2) 161-167 https://doi.org/10.1071/MU12099
Submitted: 22 June 2012 Accepted: 20 November 2012 Published: 21 February 2013
Abstract
Birds that counter-sing for communication and territorial maintenance need to localise the source of sound in order to promote an appropriate intraspecific response. Here, we investigate the role of harmonics in the chatter call of the North Island Saddleback (Philesturnus rufusater). We test whether the relative amplitude of harmonics serves as a distance cue, and whether a change of the harmonic composition of the chatter call has an effect on bird’s response and its likely ability to estimate the distance of the signalling individual. North Island Saddlebacks exhibited stronger responses to playback songs with more relative energy within higher harmonics, suggesting that these are perceived as coming from a nearby individual. North Island Saddlebacks took longer to respond and counter-sang less to chatter calls with more relative energy in lower harmonics, suggesting that they were perceived as coming from a distant bird. We also found that North Island Saddlebacks responded differently to songs from which different harmonic frequencies were removed (muted). This study reveals the ability of the North Island Saddleback to differentiate between calls with different harmonic composition and proposes that harmonics are important as distance cues.
Additional keywords: bird song, Philesturnus rufusater, playback.
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