Statistical classification of black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadee (Poecile gambeli) call notes.
Both black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) produce a chick-a-dee call that consists of several distinct note types. In some regions, these 2 species live sympatrically, and it has been shown that 1 species will respond weakly to songs of the other. This suggests that chickadee song, and potentially other of their vocalizations, contains species-specific information. We tested the possibility that call notes were acoustically sufficient for species identification. Black-capped and mountain non-D notes were summarized as a set of 9 features and then analyzed by linear discriminant analysis. Linear discriminant analysis was able to use these notes to identify species with 100% accuracy. We repeated this approach, but with black-capped and mountain D notes that were summarized as a set of 4 features. Linear discriminant analysis was able to use these notes to identify species with 94% accuracy. This demonstrates that any of the note types in these chickadee calls possesses sufficient information for species classification.
Dawson
Michael R W
MR
Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. mdawson@ualberta.ca
Bloomfield
Laurie L
LL
Charrier
Isabelle
I
Sturdy
Christopher B
CB
D000162:Acoustics; D000818:Animals; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005260:Female; D020308:Songbirds; D014828:Vocalization, Animal