Natural History of the Bell Vireo, Vireo bellii AudubonBarlow, Jon C.
Science
Natural History of the Bell Vireo, Vireo bellii Audubon
Barlow, Jon C.
Bell vireo; Birds
1. Primary song. It has been described by Pitelka and Koestner
(1942:103) as an "irregular series of harsh and sharp, but slurred
notes preceded by a few distinct notes of the same quality and ending
with a decided ascending or descending note of similar harshness." The
terminal note may also be somewhat abbreviated and intermediate
between an ascending or descending note. The song is sometimes
delivered as a couplet that consists of a phrase ending on a
descending note. This delivery is typical of incubation and later
renesting. During early season activities, the bird utters a phrase
ending on the descending note as many as 15 times before a phrase
ending on an ascending note is heard.
A sonagram of a single phrase, one of several recorded on May 9, 1960
(the third day of building of nest 1-b 1960), consists of 10 notes,
the first of which is distinct. The remaining notes are slurred. This
phrase is 1.4 seconds in length.
Songs are delivered most rapidly in the course of territorial disputes
and defense. The song is loudest in times of nestbuilding and periods
of aggressive behavior. At these times, on clear, calm days, the songs
are audible 100 yards away. Singing in the nestling period and
post-breeding season is audible at distances of no more than 50 feet;
such notes have been termed "whisper songs." Table 1 summarizes
singing rates at different periods of the nesting cycle in several
situations and under various weather conditions.
Songs are of equal frequency in the immediate vicinity of the nest and
elsewhere in the territory. Nice (1929:17) also found this to be true.
Perches can be almost at ground level or as high as 60 feet. Forty per
cent of my data on song concern singing at heights of more than 20
feet. As indicated in foraging, the lack of competition from aboreal
species of vireos presumably contributes to the use of higher perches
by Bell Vireos.
No female song was recorded in 1959, but on May 26, 1960, a female was
heard to sing once. She appeared at nest 1-f (1960) shortly after the
male arrived. Unlike him, she did not participate in building, but
seemed to be inspecting the nest. After 30 seconds she sang once--a
low garbled phrase--and also scolded once. After this she left. In the
meantime the continuously singing male moved two feet away from the
nest, then back to it and resumed construction.
The song of the female signaled to the male her departure. Pitelka and
Koestner (1942:103) heard a female sing twice after she replaced the
male on the nest. Females of three other species of vireos, the
Black-capped Vireo, _V. atricapillus_ (Lloyd, 1887:295), the
Philadelphia Vireo, _V. philadelphicus_ (Lewis, 1921:33), and the
Latimer Vireo, _V. latimeri_ (Spaulding _in_ Pitelka and Koestner,
1942:103) have been heard singing. Lewis and Spaulding also suggest
that the song of the female functions as a signal prior to exchange at
the nest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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