Notes on the vocalizations of Canary-winged Finch (Melanodera melanodera)

In the following we briefly analyze and compare voice of the two races of Canary-winged Finch (Melanodera melanodera). We also try to quantify the extent of any vocal differences using the criteria proposed by Tobias et al. (2010), as a support for taxonomic review. We have made use of sound recordings available on-line from Xeno Canto (XC) and Internet Bird Collection (IBC).

A comparison of song of both races (illustrated with sonograms in the pdf version of this note):​ princetoniana and nominate.

There are only a few recordings of song available for each taxon. Song of both races is a leisurely delivered sequence of single melodious notes, typically a subphrase of 2-3 different notes repeated for a while. In full song, pace of princetoniana apparently slightly slower than nominate (1 - 1.2notes/s vs 1.4 - 1.5notes/s), but more recordings are needed to establish whether this is a constant diagnostic feature.

This note was finalized on 30th June 2016, using sound recordings available on-line at that moment. We would like to thank in particular the sound recordists who placed their recordings for this species on XC and IBC:  Alvaro Jaramillo, Laurent Demongin, Bernabe Lopez-Lanus, Michele Peron, Fabrice Schmitt, Andrew Spencer and Sofia Wasylyk.

References

Tobias, J.A., Seddon, N., Spottiswoode, C.N., Pilgrim, J.D., Fishpool, L.D.C. & Collar, N.J. (2010). Quantitative criteria for species delimitation. Ibis 152(4): 724–746.

More Information: on390_canary-winged_finch.pdf