The Bird Dawn Chorus Revisited

Gil, Diego; Genique, Diego Llusía

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-39200-0_3

Cited by 70 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 226 publications

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“…The vocal activity of most diurnal birds peaks prior to sunrise and then ceases or decreases in intensity for the rest of the day (Mace 1987, Catchpole & Slater 2008). This phenomenon of vocal activity concentrated around sunrise is known as a ‘dawn chorus’ (Gil & Llusia 2020). Reasons for the concentration of vocal activity at dawn (Krebs & Kacelnik 1983, Naguib et al .…”

Section: Hypothesis Reason Predictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2018). The best‐supported hypotheses for dawn choruses are that singing at dawn does not interfere with feeding, and plays a role in female mating and territorial defence (Gil & Llusia 2020). Dawn is also the best time of the day for sound transmission (Henwood & Fabrick 1979) because atmospheric conditions before sunrise (low temperatures and low air turbulence) allow better transmission, which may also contribute to explaining why birds sing at dawn (e.g.…”

Section: Hypothesis Reason Predictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nocturnal vocal behaviour of the diurnal Undulated Tinamou (Crypturellus undulatus) is associated with temperature and moon phase

Pérez‐Granados

Schuchmann

2021

Ibis

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Some diurnal birds vocalize at night but the reason for this has seldom been studied. We monitored the nocturnal vocal activity of the Undulated Tinamou Crypturellus undulatus from June 2015 to May 2016 at three recording stations in the Brazilian Pantanal. We tested whether an index of nocturnal vocal output (number of vocalizations automatically detected) of the species varied over the monitored annual cycle and whether it was related to night temperature and moon phase. The annual pattern of nocturnal vocal output was unimodal, with high vocal activity during September and October (49.9% of the total calls detected) and very low vocal output from January through June (8.5% of the total). The unimodal pattern found suggests that nocturnal vocal activity might be related to mate attraction rather than to territorial defence, for which a more constant pattern would have been expected. The percentage of the moon illuminated was positively associated with nocturnal vocal activity, probably related to the elevated light level on moonlit nights. Nocturnal vocal activity was not associated with minimum air temperature. Nocturnal vocal output was positively associated with vocal output during the preceding night, but not with vocal output during the preceding day, suggesting that it was not directly associated with diurnal calling. This is the first study showing a complete annual cycle of nocturnal vocalizations for a diurnal bird species. Our study provides new evidence regarding the function of and the reasons for nocturnal vocalizations in a diurnal non‐passerine bird and has important implications for continued study of reproductive behaviour in tinamous. Further research should examine whether courtship display is associated with nocturnal vocalizations in this and other species.

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Section: Hypothesis Reason Predictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hypothesis Reason Predictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nocturnal vocal behaviour of the diurnal Undulated Tinamou (Crypturellus undulatus) is associated with temperature and moon phase

Pérez‐Granados

Schuchmann

2021

Ibis

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“…In territorial species like, for example, several well-studied songbirds, the conspicuous advertisement signals of males have been shown to repel other males ( Krebs et al 1978 ; Nowicki et al 1998 ; Snijders et al 2017a ) but attract females ( Chiver et al 2008 ; Snijders et al 2017a ). Specifically, the high singing activity at dawn (“dawn song”) that males engage in throughout the breeding season may play an important role in keeping away territory intruders and attracting (extrapair) mates ( Staicer et al 1996 ; Gil and Llusia 2020 ). However, our understanding of the behavioral responses of males and females in relation to long-range signaling stems mostly from playback studies focusing on immediate spatial responses or from correlational studies linking male song traits to reproductive success ( Catchpole and Slater 2008 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extraterritorial forays by great tits are associated with dawn song in unexpected ways

et al. 2020

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Conspicuous male signals often play an important role in both attracting mates and deterring rivals. In territorial species with extrapair mating, female and male forays to other territories may be an important component underlying female choice and male mating success and might be influenced by male advertisement signals. Yet, whether off-territory foraying is associated with male signals is still not well understood. Here, we tested how female and male forays are associated with short-range visual and long-range acoustic signals (dawn song). We used an automated radio tracking system to follow the movements of wild great tits (Parus major) to other territories in relation to male dawn song, plumage ornaments, and extrapair paternity. We show that both sexes frequently forayed into others’ territories throughout the breeding period. Movements of both males and females were associated with male song but not with plumage ornaments. Contrary to our expectations, females stayed away from territories where males sang elaborately, whereas males were attracted to those territories. Moreover, neither female nor male forays were associated with the occurrence of extrapair offspring. Our results, thus, suggest that, although forays into other territories are associated with male dawn song, females may not be attracted and males not repelled by dawn song. This sheds a different light on the sex-specific effects of male advertisement signals, expanding the view on the selection pressures shaping such communication systems.

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“…The study of avian acoustics has attracted the interest of ornithologists for centuries [1,2]. Birds vocalize to defend territories and attract mates, but they are also used to signal food resources and predators or to maintain group contact [3][4][5]. The vocal activity of birds is influenced by a large number of endogenous (e.g., breeding status and hormones; [6]) and exogenous factors (e.g., photoperiod, weather, moonlight, and background noise; [7]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diel and Seasonal Variations of Vocal Behavior of the Neotropical White-Tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi)

Pérez‐Granados

Schuchmann

2020

Diversity

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Current knowledge regarding the vocal behavior in tropical non-passerines is very limited. Here, we employed passive acoustic monitoring to study the vocal activity of the white-tipped dove (Leptotila verreauxi) at three sites over a year in the Brazilian Pantanal. The diel pattern of vocal activity showed a bimodal pattern, with significantly higher vocal activity after sunrise than during the other hours of the day, in agreement with prior studies on this species and other members of Columbidae. The species was vocally active throughout the year, but vocal activity was maximum during May-June and lowest during January-February. Relative air humidity was positively associated with vocal activity, which may be related to the improvement of sound transmission under more humid conditions, but it could also be related to foraging efficiency due to a higher availability of invertebrates on wetter days. Vocal activity was not related to the mean air temperature or daily rainfall. Acoustic monitoring proved to be a useful tool for monitoring this shy forest species, for which a minimum number of three monitoring days was needed to detect a reliable vocal activity rate. Future studies should evaluate its use for monitoring other species of doves and pigeons that are secretive or threatened.

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The Bird Dawn Chorus Revisited

Cited by 70 publications

References 226 publications

Nocturnal vocal behaviour of the diurnal Undulated Tinamou (Crypturellus undulatus) is associated with temperature and moon phase

Nocturnal vocal behaviour of the diurnal Undulated Tinamou (Crypturellus undulatus) is associated with temperature and moon phase

Extraterritorial forays by great tits are associated with dawn song in unexpected ways

Diel and Seasonal Variations of Vocal Behavior of the Neotropical White-Tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi)

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