Abstract
Territorial songs in island populations of songbirds are often highly divergent from those of neighbouring continental relatives. This is shown for the three goldcrest subspecies (Regulus regulus azoricus, R. r. sanctae-mariae and R. r. inermis) endemic on six islands of the Azorean archipelago. All investigated populations display a high intra- and inter-individual acoustic variation. On each island, up to six different song types have been found; and a single male sings up to three types. In contrast, all northwestern European populations of R. r. regulus and R. r. anglorum share only a single song type. In playback experiments, none of 18 tested dialect songs of Azorean goldcrests evoked notable territorial reaction in German and Czech goldcrest males (ssp. regulus). Two differing dialect groups of the goldcrest can be distinguished on the Azores. Populations of the eastern islands, São Miguel and Santa Maria, share common song types which are not found on the islands of the central and western groups. Dialect repertoires on the westernmost islands, Flores, Faial and Pico, are dominated by a different song type. In the geologically younger western crater of São Miguel, both western and eastern song types coexist. Acoustic similarities to a population from neighbouring Terceira suggest the western part of São Miguel as the origin for the westward expansion of R. regulus on the Azores.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Becker PH (1974) Der Gesang von Winter- und Sommergoldhähnchen (Regulus regulus, Regulus ignicapillus) am westlichen Bodensee. Vogelwarte 27:233–243
Becker PH (1976) Artkennzeichnende Gesangsmerkmale bei Winter- und Sommergoldhähnchen (Regulus regulus, R. ignicapillus). Z Tierpsychol 42:411–437
Becker PH (1977) Geographische Variation des Gesanges von Winter- und Sommergoldhähnchen (Regulus regulus, R. ignicapillus). Vogelwarte 29:1-37
Becker PH (1978) Vergleich von Lautäußerungen der Gattung Regulus (Goldhähnchen) als Beitrag zur Systematik. Bonn Zool Beitr 29:101–121
Becker PH (1982) The coding of species-specific characteristics in bird sound. In: Kroodsma D, Miller EH (eds) Acoustic communication in birds. Academic Press, London, pp 213–252
Catchpole CK, Slater PJB (1995) Bird song. Biological themes and variations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Helbig AJ, Martens J, Seibold I, Henning F, Schottler B, Wink M (1996) Phylogeny and species limits in the palearctic chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita complex: mitochondrial genetic differentiation and bioacoustic evidence. Ibis 138:650–666
Knecht S, Scheer U (1971) Die Vögel der Azoren. Bonn Zool Beitr 22:275–296
Kroodsma DE (1989) Suggested experimental designs for song playbacks. Anim Behav 37:600–609
Martens J (1996) Vocalization and speciation of Palearctic birds. In: Kroodsma DE, Miller EH (eds) Ecology and evolution of acoustic communication in birds. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y., pp 221–240
Martens J, Päckert M, Nazarenko AA, Valchuk O, Kawaji N (1998) Comparative bioacoustics of territorial song in the goldcrest (Regulus regulus) and its implications for the intrageneric phylogeny of the genus Regulus. Zool Abh Dresden 50:99–128
Päckert M, Martens J, Hofmeister T (2001) Lautäußerungen der Sommergoldhähnchen von den Inseln Madeira und Mallorca (Regulus ignicapillus madeirensis, R. i. balearicus). J Ornithol 142:16–29
Päckert M, Martens J, Kosuch J, Nazarenko AA, Veith M (2003) Phylogenetic signal in the songs of Crests and Kinglets (Aves: Regulus). Evolution 57:616–629
Salzburger W, Martens J, Sturmbauer C (2002) Paraphyly of the Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus) suggested from cytochrome b sequences. Mol Phylogenet Evol 24:19–25
Schottler B (1995) Songs of Blue Tits Parus caeruleus palmensis from La Palma (Canary Islands) - a test of hypothesis. Bioacoustics 6:135–152
Stock M, Bergmann H-H (1988) Der Gesang des Rotkehlchens (Erithacus rubecula superbus) von Teneriffa (Kanarische Inseln) – Struktur und Erkennen eines Inseldialekts. Zool Jahrb Physiol 92:197–212
Thaler E (1979) Das Aktionssystem von Winter- und Sommergoldhähnchen (Regulus regulus, R. ignicapillus) und deren ethologische Differenzierung. Bonn Zool Monogr 12
Thaler E (1990) Die Goldhähnchen. Ziemsen, Wittenberg Lutherstadt, Germany
Thielcke G (1970) Lernen von Gesang als möglicher Schrittmacher der Evolution. Z Zool Syst Evolutionsforsch 8:309–320
Thielcke G (1972) On the origin of divergence of learned signals (songs) in isolated populations. Ibis 115:511–516
Volsøe H (1951) The breeding birds of the Canary Islands. I. Introduction and synopsis of the species. Vidensk Medd 113:1–153
Acknowledgements
This paper results from two expeditions to the Azores in 2000 and 2001. Travel funds have been granted by the Forschungskommission, Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft (M.P.) and by the Feldbausch-Stiftung at Fachbereich Biologie of Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (J.M.). M. Starke accompanied M.P. to the Azores in both years. A. Baumgart, M. Melcher and S. Schick assisted during field work in the Czech Republic in 2001. Richard Ranft, National Sound Archive, London, provided recordings from various European R. regulus populations. We thank all the many friends and colleagues involved in this project. This paper is based on results of the PhD dissertation of M.P. (Fachbereich Biologie, Mainz University).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by F. Bairlein
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Päckert, M., Martens, J. Song dialects on the Atlantic islands: goldcrests of the Azores (Regulus regulus azoricus, R. r. sanctae-mariae, R. r. inermis). J Ornithol 145, 23–30 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-003-0003-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-003-0003-8