A Comparative Analysis of Distress Call Structure in Australian Passerine and Non-Passerine Species: Influence of Size and Phylogeny

摘要: Distress vocalisations were recorded from 65 species of Australian birds, including passerines, parrots and raptors while held in the hand or entangled mistnets. shown to have similar structural properties many species: a noisy and/or harmonic structure with wide frequency range. The finding that distress calls range physical characteristics appear be convergent fits well Marler's (1955, 1957) classic analyses mobbing aerial alarm variety European passerines. spectral high amplitude also demonstrate they are designed for ease location effective transmission over long distances. Incidence rate calling showed both intraspecific interspecific variation, higher proportion larger more often. There significant relationships found between mass various call parameters; birds produced louder which longer duration lower minimum dominant frequencies.