Associations of Song Properties with Habitats for Territorial Oscine Birds of Eastern North America

To investigate adaptations for long-range acoustic communication in birds, I analyzed associations between broad categories of habitats and properties of territorial songs for eastern North American oscines. From published recordings, I obtained three frequency properties (maximal, minimal, and dominant) and three temporal properties of songs (presence of sidebands, presence of buzzes, minimal period of repeated elements). Sidebands and buzzes indicated rapid amplitude modulation of a carrier frequency. Habitats occupied by territorial males were classified into six categories (broad-leaved or mixed forest, coniferous forest, parkland or forest edge, shrubland, grassland, and marshes). Frequencies in songs correlated strongly with body size, which varied among habitats. Analysis of covariance and phylogenetic regression, after controlling for body size, revealed an association of maximal but not dominant or minimal frequencies with habitat. In contrast, the temporal properties of song were all strongly associated with habitat, even within phylogenetic groupings. These results suggest that the temporal properties of songs of many oscines have evolved to reduce the effects of reverberation in forested habitats. Exceptional species might have retained features of song subject to degradation to permit listeners to judge distances to singers. In addition, adaptations for acoustic communication in different habitats might include differences in the perception of songs

Ornithological exploration of Amazonian Peru.

68 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm. "Issued December 8, 2010."In 1922 Frank M. Chapman hired a family of Ecuadorians to collect birds and mammals for the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). In the following two years, Carlos Olalla and his four sons (especially Alfonso and Ramón) shipped some 3500 carefully prepared and neatly labeled specimens of Ecuadorian birds to New York. In 1925, under a new contract with the AMNH, the Olallas moved their operations to northeastern Peru, and during the next two and a half years, mostly as a result of efforts by Alfonso and Ramón, they sent over 7000 specimens of birds to New York from Amazonian Peru, as well as additional thousands of specimens of mammals. The two brothers shifted their operations to Brazil in 1928. Alfonso went on to ship even larger collections of birds from Brazil to museums in the United States, Sweden, and Brazil. Altogether these collections have provided the documentation for much of what we now know about the distributions of Amazonian birds and mammals. In 1962 accusations surfaced that the Olallas had falsified much of the information about their specimens. Although based on hearsay, these accusations raised lingering doubts about the Olallas' collections. Alfonso sent reports of the brothers' activities to the AMNH with their shipments of specimens. These reports together with their correspondence with Chapman and other curators are still preserved in the archives of the departments of ornithology and mammalogy. Examination of these archives and of most of the Olallas' specimens of birds and primates from Peru provides a clear view of their activities for the first time. All of the Olallas' collecting sites in Amazonian Peru can now be confidently located, and a large majority of their specimens from these localities accord with current understanding of avian distributions in Amazonian Peru. The accusations of general carelessness or systematic duplicity can thus be rejected. Nevertheless, there remains a small number of problematic specimens. Especially suspect are those acquired from the Olallas in Iquitos by Harvey Bassler with labels from the mouth of the Río Urubamba. These specimens eventually came to the AMNH as a part of Bassler's collection, rather than directly from the Olallas. Alfonso and Ramón Olalla's choice of collecting sites suggests that they became aware of the importance of major rivers in limiting avian distributions in Amazonia, and their correspondence with Chapman suggests that their collections brought this insight to the attention of ornithologists in New York. In addition, their collections suggest patterns of avian distribution that still need further investigation, especially the extension of some species of the Andean foothills into the lowlands of upper Amazonia and the less consistent limitations of avian distributions by the upper Río Ucayali in comparison to the Río Amazonas. No doubt some of the Olallas' specimens indicate yet undiscovered features of avian distribution in upper Amazonia, where, despite Alfonso and Ramón's pioneering efforts, there is surely more to learn

Timing of Cranial Pneumatization in White-Throated Sparrows

To assess correlates of the timing of cranial pneumatization in wintering White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis), we repeatedly determined the stage of pneumatization of marked individuals in the field following autumnal migration. There were pronounced differences among individuals and among years in the timing of cranial pneumatization. Pneumatization occurred later in larger individuals, as indicated by wing length, but the timing of pneumatization was not related to dates of arrival in wintering areas nor to social dominance

Fig. 2 in Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru

Fig. 2. Map of northwestern Amazonia to show major rivers, modern towns and international boundaries, and locations visited by Alfonso and Ramón Olalla from 1925 to 1928.Published as part of <i>Wiley, R. Haven, 2010, Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru, pp. 1-68 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2010 (343)</i> on page 14, DOI: 10.1206/677.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10112478">http://zenodo.org/record/10112478</a&gt

Fig. 1 in Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru

Fig. 1. Map of some localities visited by the Olallas at the beginning of their expedition down the Río Napo and on their previous expeditions to Sumaco, an outlying peak of the eastern Andes in Ecuador.Published as part of <i>Wiley, R. Haven, 2010, Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru, pp. 1-68 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2010 (343)</i> on page 10, DOI: 10.1206/677.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10112478">http://zenodo.org/record/10112478</a&gt

Fig. 3 in Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru

Fig. 3. Map of the vicinity of Indiana (the Olallas' ''Pto. Indiana''), departamento Loreto, Peru. The mouth of the Río Napo is about 20 km east of Indiana although the river passes within 3 km to the north. South of the Río Amazonas seasonally flooded lowlands extend to the arcuate portions of the Río Vainilla as indicated. This map and the following ones are based on satellite images from Google Earth (accessed March–December 2008).Published as part of <i>Wiley, R. Haven, 2010, Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru, pp. 1-68 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2010 (343)</i> on page 15, DOI: 10.1206/677.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10112478">http://zenodo.org/record/10112478</a&gt

Fig. 4 in Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru

Fig. 4. Map of the lower courses of the ríos Orosa and Apayacu, departamento Loreto, Peru. Seasonally flooded lowlands extend from the Río Amazonas northward to the dashed line and southward to the arcuate portions of the Río Orosa. The Olallas' locality ''Orosa'' was most likely at or near the circle (1, see text). Their ''Apayacu'' was at the current town of that name (2), on a small island between the mouth of the Río Apayacu and the Río Amazonas.Published as part of <i>Wiley, R. Haven, 2010, Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru, pp. 1-68 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2010 (343)</i> on page 17, DOI: 10.1206/677.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10112478">http://zenodo.org/record/10112478</a&gt

Fig. 7 in Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru

Fig. 7. Alfonso Olalla at the Tyler-Duida Expedition's Central Camp on Mount Duida, photographed by G.H.H. Tate on February 16, 1929. Notice the large numbers of prepared specimens, including many mammals, stored in paper sleeves ready for shipment to New York. Tate's diary on the Tyler-Duida Expedition, now in the Department of Mammalogy at the AMNH, describes his visits with Alfonso, in which they discussed the natural history of birds and mammals.Published as part of <i>Wiley, R. Haven, 2010, Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru, pp. 1-68 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2010 (343)</i> on page 30, DOI: 10.1206/677.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10112478">http://zenodo.org/record/10112478</a&gt

Fig. 6 in Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru

Fig. 6. Map of the origin of the Río Ucayali, departamento Ucayali, Perú. The Ucayali begins at the confluence of the Río Tambo and the Río Urubamba near the current town of Atalya. Foothills of the Andes paralleling the Ucayali, within the dashed line, include a spur that nearly reaches the river. Dots show the locations of several current villages mentioned in the text. The Olallas used three camps in this area (1–3): at the mouth of the Río Urubamba (''Boca Río Urubamba,'' 1) and nearby downstream to the west (''Santa Rosa,'' 2) and east (''Lagarto,'' 3) of the general course of the Ucayali.Published as part of <i>Wiley, R. Haven, 2010, Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru, pp. 1-68 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2010 (343)</i> on page 24, DOI: 10.1206/677.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10112478">http://zenodo.org/record/10112478</a&gt

Fig. 5 in Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru

Fig. 5. Map of the vicinity of the village of Sarayacu, departamento Loreto, Peru. A range of hills extends northward within the dashed line east of the Río Ucayali. Seasonally flooded lowlands extend west of the Ucayali to the dashed lines and east even farther. The Olallas' used three camps in this area (1–3, see text), two near the current village and a third farther south most likely across the river from the location of the current town of Orellana.Published as part of <i>Wiley, R. Haven, 2010, Alfonso Olalla And His Family: The Ornithological Exploration Of Amazonian Peru, pp. 1-68 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2010 (343)</i> on page 21, DOI: 10.1206/677.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10112478">http://zenodo.org/record/10112478</a&gt