Notes on the vocalizations of Grey-headed Negrofinch (Nigrita canicapillus)

In the following we briefly analyze and compare voice of the different races of Grey-headed Negrofinch (Nigrita canicapillus). 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 Macaulay Library (ML).

Song is a phrase of typically three pure whistles at slightly different pitch (duration of song phrase about 2-3s, whistles typically between 3 and 4kHz). There are relatively few recordings available. An overview per race (illustrated with sonograms in the pdf version of this note):

emiliae: Liberia and Ghana.

nominate: Cameroon, E Congo and Nigeria.

No recordings available of other races (apart from a very poor recording of schistaceus).

Song of nominate seems to have somewhat more variation than song of emiliae, but the former race obviously also has a much larger range. Other than that, song of both races very similar.

More recordings, especially of the other races, are needed to make a more in depth analysis.

This note was finalized on 28th April 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 ML: Sander Bot, James Bradley, Rolf de By, Charles Hesse, Peter Kaestner, Stuart Keith, Mike Nelson, Etienne Leroy, David Moyer, Samuel Osinobi, Bram Piot, Mark Robbins and Paul Rodewald.

 

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: on348_grey-headed_negrofinch.pdf