My only experience with this is in quail. I hunt quail, quail in AZ have a
slightly different call than the quail in Nebraska - yet the call still sounds
like a quail. And I knwo it as a quail as soon as I heard it. Perhaps there is a
limit on variation due to a multitue of factors such as - whistle harware -
ability to remember the same song. Perhaps the differences are due to
"mutations" in the original song over many generations?
Bill Roh
Robert Moritz wrote:
> Eric Boyd wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > "Tim Rhodes" <proftim@speakeasy.org> wrote:
> > > Incorrect. Songbirds are genetically programmed to sing, but
> > > the songs themselves are not. (Much as we are programmed for
> > > language, but not _a_ language.) Birdsongs vary within species
> > > by region and location; a flock's songs change over time and within
> > > the lifespan a single bird; new songs introduced are copied and
> > > spread to other flocks; and songbirds of one species raised by
> > > another species will grow up to sing their foster parents songs.
> >
> > Really? Why is it, then, that field guides to birds can record bird songs
> > accuratly? My parents possess a 20 year old record of bird songs which is
> > every bit as useful now as it was then -- Robins still sound like Robins,
> > and it don't even matter where you live!
> >
> > I think you're trying to bullshit me, Tim.
> >
> > ERiC
>
> If it's bullshit, then Tim must have heard it from the same source as I.
> I've read of the songs of birds having different 'dialects' depending
> upon the learned source, etc. Although, I can't speak from personal
> experience...I couldn't distinguish the sound of a penguin from an
> osterich.
>
> Robert