The Chick-a-Dee Call System of the Mexican Chickadee. Ficken, Millicent Sigler, Hailman, Elizabeth D., & Hailman, Jack P. The Condor, 96(1):70–82, Cooper Ornithological Society, 1994. Paper abstract bibtex Chick-a-dee calls of the Mexican Chickadee (Parus sclateri) are composed of combinations of three common note types (A, C and D) and one very rare type (B). Calls have the invariant sequence of notes A-B-C-D, where any note type may be omitted, given once or repeated a variable number of times before transiting to the next type. The B and C notes are phonologically similar to the B and C notes of chick-a-dee calls of the Black-capped Chickadee (P. atricapillus), but the A note is markedly different and the D note somewhat different from equivalent notes of the congener. A total of 2,071 calls recorded yielded 60 different call types, and Zipf-Mandelbrot plots show that the call system is "open"; as the sample size is increased new call types will be found without demonstrable bound. In relatively undisturbed contexts (with mate on territory, in fall flocks, alone in fall) birds gave mainly [A][D] calls with lesser numbers of [A] and [C] calls, where brackets indicate variable repetition of note types. In disturbed contexts (mobbing plastic Great Horned Owl, mobbing speaker playing calls of the Northern Pygmy-Owl, observer sitting under the nest cavity) the birds gave more [C] calls with [A][C] as well. In the longest mobbing session to owl calls, birds gave mainly [A] calls when approaching, switched to [C] calls while flying about the speaker, and then resumed [A] calls and moved off when the playback was stopped. Outside of human language, this is the second truly combinatorial system of vocal communication found in animals, the first being chick-a-dee calls of the Black-capped Chickadee. This study provides the first data substantiating quantitative differences in calls from different contexts, an important step toward understanding what kinds of information combinatorial chick-a-dee calls encode.
@Article{Ficken1994,
author = {{Ficken, Millicent Sigler} and {Hailman, Elizabeth D.} and {Hailman, Jack P.}},
journal = {The Condor},
title = {The Chick-a-Dee Call System of the Mexican Chickadee},
year = {1994},
issn = {0010-5422},
number = {1},
pages = {70--82},
volume = {96},
abstract = {Chick-a-dee calls of the Mexican Chickadee (Parus sclateri) are composed
of combinations of three common note types (A, C and D) and one very
rare type (B). Calls have the invariant sequence of notes A-B-C-D,
where any note type may be omitted, given once or repeated a variable
number of times before transiting to the next type. The B and C notes
are phonologically similar to the B and C notes of chick-a-dee calls
of the Black-capped Chickadee (P. atricapillus), but the A note is
markedly different and the D note somewhat different from equivalent
notes of the congener. A total of 2,071 calls recorded yielded 60
different call types, and Zipf-Mandelbrot plots show that the call
system is "open"; as the sample size is increased new call types
will be found without demonstrable bound. In relatively undisturbed
contexts (with mate on territory, in fall flocks, alone in fall)
birds gave mainly [A][D] calls with lesser numbers of [A] and [C]
calls, where brackets indicate variable repetition of note types.
In disturbed contexts (mobbing plastic Great Horned Owl, mobbing
speaker playing calls of the Northern Pygmy-Owl, observer sitting
under the nest cavity) the birds gave more [C] calls with [A][C]
as well. In the longest mobbing session to owl calls, birds gave
mainly [A] calls when approaching, switched to [C] calls while flying
about the speaker, and then resumed [A] calls and moved off when
the playback was stopped. Outside of human language, this is the
second truly combinatorial system of vocal communication found in
animals, the first being chick-a-dee calls of the Black-capped Chickadee.
This study provides the first data substantiating quantitative differences
in calls from different contexts, an important step toward understanding
what kinds of information combinatorial chick-a-dee calls encode.},
copyright = {Copyright 1994 Cooper Ornithological Society},
jstor_articletype = {Full Length Article},
jstor_date = {199402},
jstor_formatteddate = {Feb., 1994},
keywords = {Parus sclateri, Mexican Chickadee, Vocalizations, Calls, Syntax, Mobbing, Flocks},
publisher = {Cooper Ornithological Society},
url = {http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-5422%28199402%2996%3A1%3C70%3ATCCSOT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1},
}
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{"_id":"yktRBpaDnBv6AFxdC","bibbaseid":"ficken-hailman-hailman-thechickadeecallsystemofthemexicanchickadee-1994","author_short":["Ficken, Millicent Sigler","Hailman, Elizabeth D.","Hailman, Jack P."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"article","type":"article","author":[{"firstnames":[],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Ficken, Millicent Sigler"],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":[],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Hailman, Elizabeth D."],"suffixes":[]},{"firstnames":[],"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Hailman, Jack P."],"suffixes":[]}],"journal":"The Condor","title":"The Chick-a-Dee Call System of the Mexican Chickadee","year":"1994","issn":"0010-5422","number":"1","pages":"70–82","volume":"96","abstract":"Chick-a-dee calls of the Mexican Chickadee (Parus sclateri) are composed of combinations of three common note types (A, C and D) and one very rare type (B). Calls have the invariant sequence of notes A-B-C-D, where any note type may be omitted, given once or repeated a variable number of times before transiting to the next type. The B and C notes are phonologically similar to the B and C notes of chick-a-dee calls of the Black-capped Chickadee (P. atricapillus), but the A note is markedly different and the D note somewhat different from equivalent notes of the congener. A total of 2,071 calls recorded yielded 60 different call types, and Zipf-Mandelbrot plots show that the call system is \"open\"; as the sample size is increased new call types will be found without demonstrable bound. In relatively undisturbed contexts (with mate on territory, in fall flocks, alone in fall) birds gave mainly [A][D] calls with lesser numbers of [A] and [C] calls, where brackets indicate variable repetition of note types. In disturbed contexts (mobbing plastic Great Horned Owl, mobbing speaker playing calls of the Northern Pygmy-Owl, observer sitting under the nest cavity) the birds gave more [C] calls with [A][C] as well. In the longest mobbing session to owl calls, birds gave mainly [A] calls when approaching, switched to [C] calls while flying about the speaker, and then resumed [A] calls and moved off when the playback was stopped. Outside of human language, this is the second truly combinatorial system of vocal communication found in animals, the first being chick-a-dee calls of the Black-capped Chickadee. This study provides the first data substantiating quantitative differences in calls from different contexts, an important step toward understanding what kinds of information combinatorial chick-a-dee calls encode.","copyright":"Copyright 1994 Cooper Ornithological Society","jstor_articletype":"Full Length Article","jstor_date":"199402","jstor_formatteddate":"Feb., 1994","keywords":"Parus sclateri, Mexican Chickadee, Vocalizations, Calls, Syntax, Mobbing, Flocks","publisher":"Cooper Ornithological Society","url":"http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-5422%28199402%2996%3A1%3C70%3ATCCSOT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1","bibtex":"@Article{Ficken1994,\n author = {{Ficken, Millicent Sigler} and {Hailman, Elizabeth D.} and {Hailman, Jack P.}},\n journal = {The Condor},\n title = {The Chick-a-Dee Call System of the Mexican Chickadee},\n year = {1994},\n issn = {0010-5422},\n number = {1},\n pages = {70--82},\n volume = {96},\n abstract = {Chick-a-dee calls of the Mexican Chickadee (Parus sclateri) are composed\n\tof combinations of three common note types (A, C and D) and one very\n\trare type (B). Calls have the invariant sequence of notes A-B-C-D,\n\twhere any note type may be omitted, given once or repeated a variable\n\tnumber of times before transiting to the next type. The B and C notes\n\tare phonologically similar to the B and C notes of chick-a-dee calls\n\tof the Black-capped Chickadee (P. atricapillus), but the A note is\n\tmarkedly different and the D note somewhat different from equivalent\n\tnotes of the congener. A total of 2,071 calls recorded yielded 60\n\tdifferent call types, and Zipf-Mandelbrot plots show that the call\n\tsystem is \"open\"; as the sample size is increased new call types\n\twill be found without demonstrable bound. In relatively undisturbed\n\tcontexts (with mate on territory, in fall flocks, alone in fall)\n\tbirds gave mainly [A][D] calls with lesser numbers of [A] and [C]\n\tcalls, where brackets indicate variable repetition of note types.\n\tIn disturbed contexts (mobbing plastic Great Horned Owl, mobbing\n\tspeaker playing calls of the Northern Pygmy-Owl, observer sitting\n\tunder the nest cavity) the birds gave more [C] calls with [A][C]\n\tas well. In the longest mobbing session to owl calls, birds gave\n\tmainly [A] calls when approaching, switched to [C] calls while flying\n\tabout the speaker, and then resumed [A] calls and moved off when\n\tthe playback was stopped. 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