Breeding Displays and Calls of the Striped Honeyeater at Baradine, New South Wales

152 AUSTRALIAN FIELD ORNITHOLOGY 2005,22, 152- 157 Breeding Displays and Calls of the Striped Honeyeater at Baradine, New South Wales K.A. WOOD1 and ANDREW J. LEY2 1 7 Maralinga Drive, Ashmore, Queensland 4214 2 19 Lynches Road, Armidale, New South Wales 2350 Summary Displays and calls of the Striped Honeyeater Plectorhyncha lanceolata were recorded during 144.8 hours of observation of a breeding pair at Baradine, northern New South Wales, in spring 2003. Wing-quivering displays by one of the pair and mutual wing-quivering displays were observed; solo and duet singing were heard. Territorial song-flights were observed during each of the 24 days that the birds were studied. Phrases of calls uttered during solo and duet singing were different from phrases sung during territorial song-flights. Calls other than songs that were recognised were an alarm call, a contact warble near the nest and a food-begging call of the nestling. Responses to calls that had been taped by other workers are described. Introduction Communication between birds consists of visual and vocal displays that enable messages to be conveyed to breeding partners, cohorts, rivals and offspring (Rowley 1982). Among Australasian passerines perhaps the most striking displays are those of the so-called 'arena birds', the bowerbirds (Cooper & Forshaw 1977; Diamond 1986) and the Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae (Smith 1988). Less spectacular are the displays of Australian honeyeaters (family Meliphagidae). Although noisy and acrobatic, no species of honeyeater prepares an arena for display or courtship. Eight species, however, are known to perform a congregation display known as the corroboree (see Pyke & O'Connor 1989) and at least 13 species, mainly in the genera Lichenostomus and Phylidonyris, perform song-flights (Higgins et al. 2001 ). Except for the Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala (Dow 1975), comprehensive knowledge about honeyeater communication is generally lacking because the displays and calls of most species 'have not been methodically studied and described' (H.A. Ford in Higgins et al. 2001). With respect to the Striped Honeyeater Plectorhyncha lanceolata only Lord (1956) and Longmore (1991) mentioned a wing-quivering display; only Longmore (1991) and Pizzey & Knight (1997) stated that the species performs song-flights; and only Slater et al. (1986), Schodde & Tidemann (1986) and Longmore (1991) reported duet-singing. In this paper, we describe displays and calls of a breeding pair of Striped Honeyeaters at Baradine, New South Wales (30°57'S, 149°5'E), in spring 2003. Responses to calls that had been taped by other workers are also described. Methods From early September to late November 2003, a pair of breeding Striped Honeyeaters was watched during all nesting stages for a total of 144.8 hours during 24 days (Table 1 in Wood & Ley 2005). Three nesting attempts were made but most observations were at nest 2 (the only nest which produced young) or within the breeding home-range around nest 2 (subsequently calculated = 4.2 ha) (see Wood & Ley 2005). The observations were part of a larger study on breeding and foraging (Wood & Ley 2005) during which the female and male were colour- VOL. 22 (3) Striped Honeyeater Breeding SEPTEMBER 2005 Displays and Calls 153 banded and sexed by measurements on 17 and 28 October respectively. The number of times each display or call was given by each parent in the various nesting phases is presented elsewhere with other breeding information (Wood & Ley 2005). Playback of tape-recorded calls was used to assist with catching the parent birds, determination of the home-range around nest 2 and location of colour-banded Honeyeaters near nest 3. Tapes used were those of Crouch & Crouch (1977), Gillard (1988) and Buckingham & Jackson (1995) selected randomly. Taped calls were mostly played from a hand-held speaker, with the operator sometimes hidden, or from the fixed speaker in a car with the door open and the operator standing beside the vehicle. Because we were conscious of possible harmful effects on the breeding pair (see McClure 1984; Geering 1998), the number of playback trials was minimised. Each trial was terminated after three or four repeated calls or whenever a response was noticed. A total of 28 playback trials was conducted: 11 on 30 September when the pair was building the second nest and 15 after 10 November, when the same pair was attending nest 3. The other two trials were on 17 and 28 October, when playback was used to possibly assist with mist-netting the pair near nest 2, which was located 2.8 m above ground. Calls were verbalised into syllables and phrases. Verbalisations considered were chi1p chilp cheny cheny (North 1909), chirp chi1p cheny cheny chirp (Officer 1975; Hill 1976), cher cher cheny cheny chip chip (Stewart 1976) cher cher cheny cheny (Slater eta!. 1986; Simpson & Day 1989), cherree cherree chirrarip, free wheat peeler peeler (Pizzey & Knight 1997) and quirrip quarreep quirrip quarreep quirrip quarreep (Morcombe 2000). Other verbalisations were devised for calls that were difficult to transliterate as above. In this paper, hyphens are shown between syllables to assist with pronunciation; spaces between syllables indicate short intervals of time. Results Wing-quivering by one of the pair Quivering of both wings simultaneously, by one bird of either sex, was observed daily but there were numerous variations in performance. Sometimes the amplitude of wing displacement was exaggerated, sometimes the duration of quivering was sustained. Mostly, this display was given by a Honeyeater upon landing on a branch either near the nest (<20m) or near the breeding partner. Mutual wing-quivering Although observed much less frequently than wing-quivering by a single bird, mutual wing-quivering had similar variations in execution. In the majority of instances the presumed male and female performing the display were less than 1 m apart. Mostly, they were near the nest ( <20 m). This display was often initiated by the landing of one partner close to the other. The most impressive mutual display involved sustained and exaggerated wing-quivering by both birds facing each other closely on the same branch (bills < 10 em apart) while singing a duet. Solo song, usually while stationmy Songs delivered by a single bird were commonly heard, and were mostly sung while the bird was perched on a branch of a tree. Occasionally these songs were uttered by an incubating or brooding bird or by a parent flying about in the vicinity (within 50 m) of the nest below the tree-tops. Solo songs varied in length from a particular phrase sung once to a cheerful rollicking melody of the same phrase repeated three to five times. We found that individual phrases of the solo song were best verbalised as either chim chee-a-ree or chim chim cheree of duration of about 1 second (Table 1). AUSTRALIAN 154 WOOD&LEY FIELD ORNITHOLOGY Table 1 Phrases recognised in 56 songs given by breeding Striped Honeyeaters (sex not determined) at Baradine, NSW. Number of times recognised Phrase During a song-flight As a solo song Chee-a-ree chree chirrup 15 Nil Chee-a-ree chirrup 5 Nil Chim chee-a-ree Nil 16 Chim chim cheree Nil 19 Chee-a-rim cheree Nil Duet, usually while perched Duets were given infrequently but contained the same verbalised phrases as solo songs (Table 1). Mostly, the two birds giving the duet were perched close to each other ( < 10 m) but occasionally they were perched farther apart (60 m maximum). Rarely, one bird was stationary and the other was in flight near the nest. Only a few duets were totally synchronised; usually they were started by one parent, with the other joining the rendition soon after commencement. As with solo songs, duets varied in duration to a maximum of about 5 seconds if the same phrase was repeated five or six times. Spatially, more duets were within 100 m of the nest than farther away and few, if any, were delivered when one singer was close (<20m) to the home-range boundary. Response song Occasionally one partner uttered phrases of a solo song and the partner responded by uttering phrases immediately afterwards. It was sometimes difficult to differentiate between a response song and a poorly synchronised duet. Territorial song-flight Song-flights were observed over the territory and home-range during each day of the study. A majority of songs uttered in flight were sustained, rich in timbre and seemed to rise slightly in pitch and volume. Phrases were best verbalised as either chee-a-ree chree chirrup or chee-a-ree chirrup (Table 1). Usually six to eight phrases were sung in succession (song duration c. 7-9 seconds). Flights with solo song were often horizontal over distances of 40-50 m about 15- 20 m above the tree-tops; the compass bearings of these were distributed randomly over the breeding territory. Some were above the nest in various directions, others were above and roughly parallel to the territory boundary. Some were in a sweeping arc rather than in a straight line. In the most impressive, and less frequent, song flights, the displaying bird gained height rather than flew horizontally. The angle of ascent was c. 30-40° with the launching point usually near the top of a tree. In ascending territorial song-flights, the displaying bird sang crescendo until it was some 50-60 m above the tree-tops, when it descended steeply in silence and perched in trees below. The launching point for a few ascending song-flights was VOL. 22 (3) Striped Honeyeater Breeding SEPTEMBER 2005 Displays and Calls 155 a branch about 10m above the ground, with the ascent terminating just above the trees (tree height 22m).

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