Is the dawn chorus an adaptation to warm-up the voice in Adelaide's warbler (Setophaga adelaidae)?

Birds sing intensely during the early morning. I test predictions of the hypothesis that this phenomenon, known as the dawn chorus (DC), is an adaptation to warm-up the voice in male Adelaide’s warblers (Setophaga adelaidae). I also analyze the effects of weather and date on the dawn chorus start time (DCST). I used songs from 29 males recorded in three different years and weather data from a MesoWest weather station. Song performance improves rapidly during the DC, but changes little after dawn. High song-rates lead to rapid improvements in vocal performance. Two out of three measures of performance peak at intermediate air temperatures (Ta). Ta, however, does not exert a strong effect on DCST. Males start to sing later with higher relative humidity, and earlier with increasing precipitation the previous day. This study lends support to the warm-up hypothesis and improves our understanding on the effects of weather on birdsong.

Authors

• Vazquez-Cardona, Juleyska
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

• birdsong
• song performance
• bioacoustics
• dawn chorus
• Birdsongs--Research
• Animal communication--Research
• Birds--Vocalization--Research
• Birds--Behavior--Research
• Setophaga--Research--Puerto Rico
• Songbirds--Behavior--Research
• Songbirds--Vocalization--Research
• Songbirds--Effect of temperature on--Research
• Dissertations, Academic

Identifier

hdl:10133/6147

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/6147