• Corpus ID: 89040852

Song in the white-eyed vireo

@article{Borror1987SongIT,
  title={Song in the white-eyed vireo},
  author={Donald Joyce Borror},
  journal={The Wilson Journal of Ornithology},
  year={1987},
  volume={99},
  pages={377-397}
}

• D. Borror
• Published 1987
• Biology
• The Wilson Journal of Ornithology

-This is an audiospectrographic study of the primary song of the White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) based on 16,6 12 recorded songs of 379 birds from 20 states, Bermuda, and the Bahamas, and representing the five subspecies that occur in the United States. Information is given on song construction, song variation, individual repertoires, singing behavior, song and note type sharing by two or more birds, and geographic variation. The largest song-type repertoire was 17, and most birds had a repertoire of 10 to 14 song types. In most birds represented by a sizeable number of songs, even in well studied areas, a few of the individual’s song types were unique (found in no other bird studied), and the rest were shared by other birds; this sharing was with more birds outside the area than in it, with one or more song types occurring in birds several hundred kilometers away. The 6 14 song types found were classified in five major groups; the incidence of the types in these groups, as well as the song length and the number of notes in the song, varied geographically. Received 17 Nov. 1986, accepted 18 Mar. 1987. The songs of a White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) are short, and they generally begin and end with a short sharp note; the other notes of the song may be buzzy or musical, and are usually slurred. A common song of this vireo might be paraphrased as “pick-up-the-beeer-check.” The songs vary; while different birds, sometimes many kilometers apart, may sing a given song type, songs of different birds are often different. This paper examines variations in songs of birds from different parts of the United States. I am concerned here solely with primary song (termed “discrete” song by Bradley 1980, 1981) although I have examined recordings containing calls, rambling song, chatter, and sub-song. Bradley (198 l), studying song variation in a local population, based his conclusions on similarities in the notes or elements of the songs. My study is similar, but is based on song types as well as individual notes, and is based on more birds, from different parts of the country. METHODS AND MATERIALS I have examined 463 recordings of White-eyed Vireo song, believed to represent 379 birds (see Tables 1 and 2). Most of these recordings were made by me and are housed in the tape collection of the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics, Ohio State University, but I have been provided with copies of recordings from the following people and institutions: Richard A. Bradley (48 recordings), Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (36 recordings), Florida State Museum (12 recordings), Sam Houston State University (10 recordings), and North Carolina State Museum (6 recordings). I Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics, Dept. Zoology, Ohio State Univ., 1735 Neil Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43210.