Rufous-throated Solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis) Songs on Dominica
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In the Springs of 2004 and 2005 I recorded Rufous-throated Solitaires on the island of Dominica, 26 in 2004, 46 total. In the following, the birds and song types are identified by names of the form RTSDOx.y, denoting bird x, song type y. Songs consist of 3 to 10 elements, which are the distinct sounds separated by small amounts, significantly less than the intersong interval. In the spectrogram for RTSDO11.01, the first below, there are 5 elements of 2 types, the first 4 being the most common type, a flat whistle. An element type is determined by its structure, not its tone.

RTSDO11.01
RTSDO16.02
RTSDO41.02
	Songs of Dominican Rufous-throated Solitaire Click spectrograms to hear.

Songs are delivered by repeating songs of one type for a period of time, not multiple types alternated. This is different from Black-faced and Andean Solitaires, Myadestes melanops and ralloides, which sing in packages, alternating among two to seven types at a stretch.

Forty-six individuals were recorded. Birds sang between 1 and 6 song types. A total of 77 song types were recorded; they contained a total of 432 elements, 2 to 10 elements per song, for an average of 5.6 elements per song. There were 99 element types, the most frequently used being the flat whistle, e. g., the first four in RTSDO11.01 above. Flat whistles accounted for 43% of the element types in songs.

The birds of Dominica sing an element unique to the island, the descending, burry element shown as the fourth element in RTSDO16.02 above, element type 4. A third of the birds recorded sang this element in at least one of their song types. It was sung in all the five areas surveyed in Dominica from the Syndicate Trail in the north to Boeri Lake in the south.

Click below for song and element type spectrograms and songs. Click on any spectrogram to hear the sound represented.

Song Type Structure

The following depicts the occurence of elements in 42 song types sung by 23 individuals. Each column, second and subsequent, contains data on one song type of one bird. For example, the column with 11 in row 1 (Bird #) and 1 in row 2 (Song Type) has the data for RTSDR11.01. The rows labeled el type 1 through el type 55 contain the number of occurences of element types 1 through 55 in the song types corresponding to the columns.

Containment of first 55 elements in the first 42 song types

This shows that some element types are shared. Asterisks in row 4 shows equivalent song types sung by different individuals.

Element Sharing

In the following, the number of shared elements from individual song repertoires is given. For example, the first line states a number of things: BL (the Boeri and Fresh Water Lakes area) has 8 recorded individuals; the sum of elements used by these individuals is 28, 7 of which are shared by at least two birds; the fraction of shared elements is 0.25 or 25%. The first five lines give the intra-area sharing data; the next fifteen give the inter-area sharing numbers.

The percentage of shared elements within an area is 16%, and 13% between areas.

Countersinging

Matched countersinging was observed.

Two birds on Middleham Falls trail just above switchback countersinging with same song type (matched countersinging).

Compare islands.

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