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The Display of the Blue‐black Grassquit: The Acoustic Advantage of Getting High
Author(s) -
Wilczynski Walter,
Ryan Michael J.,
Brenowitz Eliot A.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1989.tb00741.x
Subject(s) - perch , acoustics , telecommunications , computer science , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , physics
Male blue‐black grassquits ( Volatinia jacarina ) display by leaping vertically above the top of the dense grass in which they perch and emitting a high pitched call. Acoustic‐transmission experiments demonstrated that calls broadcast from above the high grass typical of grassquit habitat attenuated less over distance than identical calls broadcast from typical perch heights within the grass. By leaping when they call, grassquits might enhance the distance over which their call can be detected.