>From an urban guerilla foresters list I'm on ...


Date: Tue, 24 Dec 1996 16:02:18 -0500 (EST)
From: RT Ellsberry <flora at Flora.Com>
To: Community-Forestry <Tree-House at Majordomo.Flora.Com>
Subject: TH: More on sonic banding

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Tree-House -

Alright, I will admit that this could be construed as being off-topic by
some purists, but I found it very interesting. Again from WED (Wildlife
Ecology Digest) the following is more on the feasibilty of tracking
birds by recording their voices. Either way, birds are important to us ...

Richard at Flora.Com
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Richard Tryzno Ellsberry + Flora Communications + Baltimore / USDA Zone 7
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13. Re: Sonic Banding
14. Marine stingers of thailand
15. Florida Wildlife regulations
16. Inquiry about "sonic banding"
17. Undergraduate research opportunity (Grassland Ecology)
18. Wildlife trade in Argentina
19. Novel filmable instances of Canid behaviour
20. Re: Sonic Banding

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Topic #13
From: macleod_c at colloquium.co.uk (Colin MacLeod)
Subject: Re: Sonic Banding

Rusty Scalf asked about the possibility of using individual bird's
variation in vocalisation as a replacement for banding.

This is possible and already in use in a number of species of birds and
other animals. However, it cannot be used for all species or all call
types.

The calls need to be stable between years and vary between individuals. In
general many bird songs alter from one year to the next. The only constant
calls are generally identification calls which adults use to locate each
other, such as the case of finding your mate in species which retain the
same mate over many years.

An example of this, and a species where sonic banding has been used is the
Red Throated Diver (Divers I believe are called Loons in The States and
Canada). Wailing calls were recorded to avoid having to disturb
individuals on the nest and used to produce a population estimate.

Similar acoustic identification is used in the study of cetaceans, most
notably killer whales in the pacific northwest, and sperm whales.

Sonic banding is therefore in the realm of reality and not sci-fi.

Hope this is of used.

Regards,

Colin D. MacLeod, B.Sc.
F2/2, 13 Kennoway Drive,
Thornwood,
Glasgow,
G11 7UA.
U.K.
Tel: 0141 337 2209
International: +44 141 337 2209
Email: macleod_c at colloquium.co.uk
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Topic #16
From: wjsmith at sas.upenn.edu (W. John Smith)
Subject: Inquiry about "sonic banding"

Re: "sonic banding". We have three years experience with this (we call
it Vocal Signature Censusing), working with populations of 15 species at
sites in Pennsylvania & Virginia. We've solved enough procedural
problems now, that I've begun to write up a methods paper, which I'll
complete during this winter. The potential is enormous, provided that
appropriate procedures are developed and rigorously followed, and that
certain skills are acquired for both the field work and lab analyses. We
expect to develop a network to which amateur birders could contribute a
great deal.

W. John Smith
Professor of Biology, University of Pennsylvania
wjsmith at sas.upenn.edu
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Topic #20
From: Mario Lepage <mario.lepage at bordeaux.cemagref.fr>
Subject: Re: Sonic Banding

Dear Rusty,
I heard of such project in south of France on some birds
like nightingale and I know that somebody has written his PhD thesis about
this subject. Unfortunately I don't know much more, but it could be a first
way to search by the help of University library.

Good luck
Mario Lepage, biologiste
ASSOCIATION GIRONDINE POUR
L'EXPERIMENTATION ET DE DEVELOPPEMENT
DES RESSOURCES AQUATIQUES (AGEDRA)
50 av. de Verdun, B.P. 53
33612 CESTAS cedex
FRANCE
Tel: (33) 05 57.89.08.10
Fax: (33) 05 57.89.08.01
e-mail: Mario.Lepage at bordeaux.cemagref.fr
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