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The Response of Male Redwings Turdus iliacus to Playback of Conspecific Songs with or without the Terminating Twitter

1991; Wiley; Volume: 22; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/3676544

0030-5693

Helene M. Lampe,

Plant and animal studies

The song of male Redwings can be divided into two parts, an introductory section and a terminating section (twitter). A previous study found that the introductory section was sung throughout the breeding season, whereas the terminating section, or twitter, was sung more often and was of longer duration early in the breeding season. I carried out playback experiments to test whether the two parts of the song might communicate different motivational information in territorial defence. There was no difference in response of males to the two playback stimuli, introduction alone or complete song (introduction and twitter), early in the season. In response to the playback songs, however, the males primarily sang this section, suggesting that it contains a message to competitors. Later in the season the males responded more to complete songs than to the introduction alone. I suggest that the whole song may be used in territorial defence but that the terminating section may signal a state of increased aggression. The lack of difference in response early in the season might result from a generally higher aggressive level at this time.