Song repertoires do not hinder neighbor-stranger discrimination

Abstract

Through playback experiments and a comparative study we tested the hypothesis that song repertoires hinder individual recognition by song in birds. Our playback tests take advantage of the peculiar singing behavior of two species of parulid warblers: the American redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) and the yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia). Males of both species sing either the same song repeatedly (“repeat mode”) or a repertoire of songs in series (“serial mode”). Subjects were played the repeat song and the serial songs from a territorial neighbor and from a stranger some territories distant. Counter to the prediction of the hypothesis, they discriminated equally well between neighbors and strangers when the several serial songs were used as when the single repeat song was played. Thus, neither the small repertoires used by redstarts in serial mode (2–8 songs) nor the larger ones used by yellows (an average of over 20 songs) appear to hinder neighbor-stranger discrimination. In our comparative test, we examined the relationship between neighbor-stranger discrimination and repertoire size among 20 species for which data were available. Using two comparative methods, we did not find the predicted significant negative relationship.