Bioacoustic analyses of the chick-a-dee call of the Mexican chickadee (Poecile sclateri) and the boreal chickadee (Poecile hudsonica)

• Author / Creator

  Moscicki, Michele

• To understand the communicative functions of any vocalization it is important to first classify, describe, and measure the elements of that vocalization. Mexican (Poecile sclateri) and boreal (P. hudsonica) chickadees both produce a name-sake chick-a-dee call. Here, the note types present in samples of Mexican and boreal chick-a-dee calls are identified and described. Frequency and temporal measures of each note type are analyzed and show that frequency measures may be useful for note-type and individual discrimination. Call syntax is also analyzed and shows that both Mexican and boreal chickadees produce the notes within their chick-a-dee calls in a fixed order with the potential for any note type to be repeated or omitted within the sequence. This work provides a foundation for future studies aimed at understanding the communicative significance of this call within these species, as well as for comparative work on the chick-a-dee call among all chickadee species.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Chick-a-dee Call
  • Boreal Chickadee
  • Mexican Chickadee
  • Bioacoustics
  • Vocal Communication

• Graduation date

  Fall 2009

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3WH7R

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.