@article {57655, title = {Great tits encode contextual information in their food and mobbing calls}, year = {2019}, abstract = {

The calling behaviour of Paridae species (i.e. titmice, tits and chickadees) in a predator-related context is well-studied. Parid species are known to alter call types, note composition or call duration according to predation risk. However, how these species encode information about a non-threatening context, such as food sources, has been subject to only few studies. Studies in Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) have shown that this species alters the ratio of C and D notes to encode information about the presence of food and/or the flight behaviour of the signaller. This suggests that parids also use graded signals to encode information about non-predatory contexts. No study to date has directly compared the calls of a feeding context with those of a predation (i.e. mobbing) context. Hence, the aim of this study was to compare the calling behaviour of these two situations in great tits (Parus major). Calls uttered at a feeder were recorded, analysed and compared with calls uttered in front of taxidermy mounts of sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus). In the food context, great tits reduced the number of D notes and increased the number of B, C and E notes compared with the mobbing context. Furthermore, tits produced calls with longer D notes and shorter intervals between D notes than in the mobbing context. This indicates that great tits use two mechanisms of graded signals (i.e. note type and acoustic structure of D calls) to inform conspecifics about the nature of a situation.

}, keywords = {food-associated vocalizations, mobbing, Parus major, social communication}, doi = {10.1098/rsos.191210}, url = {https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.191210https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.191210https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.191210https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.191210}, author = {Kalb, Nadine and Anger, Fabian and Randler, Christoph} } @article {53437, title = {Bird vocalizations: seven different types of Great tit (Parus major) vocalizations}, number = {201811}, year = {2018}, abstract = {

The Great tit (Parus major) produces a large variety in calls and songs. Seven different types of vocalizations are described in this paper. Interesting is that those types differ in (acous- tic) structure. Three structures can be observed: 1) a vocalization can be \&$\#$39;tonal\&$\#$39;; a pure tone, usually in time varying in frequency (often a so-called \&$\#$39;upsweep\&$\#$39;); 2) a vocalization can be \&$\#$39;pulsed\&$\#$39;, a series of pulses consisting of a fundamental frequency on which the pulse repetition frequency is superimposed; the pulse repetition rate is between 210 and 240 pulses/s; 3) a vo- calization can be pulsed, however, with a \‘semi-broadband\’ spectrum. Great tit vocalizations are concentrated around two frequency ranges: around 4 kHz and around 8 kHz. The duration of vocalization components is rather limited, usually between 95 and 130 ms.

}, url = {https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Willem_Verboom2/publication/329390530_Bird_vocalizations_seven_different_types_of_Great_tit_Parus_major_vocalizations/links/5c1618f34585157ac1c5cbaa/Bird-vocalizations-seven-different-types-of-Great-tit-Parus-major-voc}, author = {Willem C. Verboom} } @article {50493, title = {Alarm call-based discrimination between common cuckoo and Eurasian sparrowhawk in a Chinese population of great tits}, journal = {Ethology}, volume = {123}, year = {2017}, month = {Jan-08-2017}, pages = {542 - 550}, abstract = {

Morphological resemblance of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus to the Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus has been regarded as an example of predator mimicry. Common hosts could distinguish parasites as the result of coevolution, while rare hosts or non-hosts may mistake cuckoos for hawks because rare hosts or non-hosts behave similarly when faced with these two species. Birds usually produce alarm calls in addition to showing behavioral responses when in danger. However, previous studies of identification by rare hosts or non-hosts of sparrowhawks usually lacked experimental evidence of alarm calls. Great tits Parus major, a rare cuckoo host, perform similar behaviors and usually produce alarm calls in response to sparrowhawks and common cuckoos. Here, we tested whether great tits could distinguish common cuckoo from sparrowhawk based on analysis of their alarm calls and the effects of playback of alarm calls on conspecific behavior. Previous studies showed that great tits have a complex communication system that conveys information about predators, and they could perform different kinds of response behavior to different alarm calls. If great tits have not made the ability to distinguish between common cuckoo and sparrowhawk, then their acoustic responses to these two species and their response behaviors in playback experiments should be similar. Specimens of a common cuckoo (parasite), a sparrowhawk (predator) and an Oriental turtle dove Streptopelia orientalis (harmless control) were used to elicit and subsequently record the response behavior and alarm calls of great tits. There was no significant difference in behavioral response among great tits when exposed to the dummy of cuckoo, sparrowhawk and dove. In contrast, they differed significantly in alarm calls. Great tits produced more notes per call that contained increasing D-type and decreasing I-type notes when responding to sparrowhawk as compared to cuckoo or dove. In playback experiments, we found that great tits responded more strongly to great tit hawk than to great tit cuckoo or great tit dove alarm calls. Our study suggests that great tits are able to distinguish sparrowhawks from common cuckoos and convey relevant information in alarm calls by adjusting the number and combinations of notes of a single call type.

}, doi = {10.1111/eth.2017.123.issue-810.1111/eth.12624}, url = {http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/eth.2017.123.issue-8}, author = {Yu, Jiangping and Xing, Xiaoying and Jiang, Yunlei and Liang, Wei and Wang, Haitao and Anders Pape M{\o}ller} }