Acoustic Differences in Canary Islands Blue Tits Parus caeruleus [abstract]

Canary Islands blue tits are currently subdivided into four subspecies by means of morphological characters: P.c. degener (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura), P.c. teneriffae (Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Gomera), P.c.. ombriosus (Hierro), and P.c. palmensis (La Palma). The territorial songs differ between the various island populations. Those differences do not always parallel the recent division into the four subspecies as shown by play-back experiments. Songs of all subspecies have been played to most of different island populations. The experiments indicate that there have been two major colonization waves of blue tits to the Canarian Archipelago. The easternmost island Lanzarote and Fuerteventura seem to be colonized independently from each other. Starting from Lanzarote, two colonization waves can be recognized: one directly to La Palma, the other via Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and Gomera to El Hierro. It is still open to question if La Palma might have been colonized directly from the African mainland.