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Geographic and morphologic factors affecting begging calls of the Red-billed Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (Corvidae) [abstract]

Paola Laiolo & Antonio Rolando (2002). Geographic and morphologic factors affecting begging calls of the Red-billed Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (Corvidae) [abstract]. Bioacoustics, Volume 13 (2): 192

 

Abstract: 

We describe the spectro-temporal features of begging calls uttered by Red-billed Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax females in five localities (Scotland, Western Alps, Central Apennines, Sicily and Morocco), attempting to detect the causative factors responsible for the present pattern of geographic diversification. Females from different populations were significantly discriminated by their begging calls. Differences in the frequency of the first band of the call might be explained by body size. The largest-bodied populations uttered the calls with the lowest pitch, thus supporting the reverse correlation between body size and call frequency, already demonstrated in the trill call of the species. Comparison with a previous study carried out on the trill call suggests that the pattern of differentiation of the two calls does not always match: (a) most differences between populations were accounted by the duration in the begging call and by the frequencies in the trill call; 09 the frequency carrying most energy was affected by body size in the trill but not in the begging call; (c) in the begging call we found no relationship between acoustic similarity and geographic distance, as in the trill call. We suggest that the forces driving the evolution of the spectrotemporal features of the Red-billed Chough calls might differently act (or have acted) on the two call types.

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