Notes on the vocalizations of Yellow-tufted Dacnis (Dacnis egregia)

In the following we briefly analyze and compare voice of Yellow-tufted Dacnis (Dacnis egregia) with Black-faced Dacnis (Dacnis lineata). 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).

Few recordings are available of both species as these seem to vocalize rarely other than uttering some rather insignificant call notes. An overview (illustrated with sonograms in the pdf version of this note):

D. egregia​: The call, a short "tsrip" is actually a high-pitched short rattle consisting of 3-5 notes (thin vertical lines close together on sonogram). Most of the energy is in the range 8-10kHz (occasionally slightly lower).

D. lineata: Call "tsrip" is actually a high-pitched short rattle consisting of 3-6 notes (thin vertical lines close together on sonogram). Most of the energy is in the range 8-10kHz (occasionally slightly lower).

From the above, it is clear that the main call note is about identical. Recordings of song would be needed to find out if there is any vocal difference.

This note was finalized on 19th October 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: Tayler Brooks, Fernando Igor de Godoy, Olaf Jahn, Dan Lane, Gabriel Leite, Andrew Spencer and Mark Todd.

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: on439_yellow-tufted_dacnis.pdf