During the winter months a number of Eastern European Robins can be found in Western Europe (among which The Netherlands). The song of the presumed E-EU birds differs from the W-EU birds. However whether this is a geographical difference ("dialect") I do not know.
So does anyone know whether there is any literature about (geographical) variation in the song of the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)?
Thanks in advance!
Hi.
About it there is one paper which may be of your interest:
BERGMANN, H. H. & B. SCHOTTLER (2001). Tenerife Robin Erithacus (rubecula) superbus - a species of its own? Dutch Birding 23: 140-146.
The authors explain the differences in song and calls between the nominal subspecies and E. r. superbus, endemic from Tenerife and Gran Canaria islands (Canaries), which probably merits a full specific status. These differences are very obvious in the field, when you hear the voice of E. r. superbus and compare it with the one of nominal birds, and also in the colour (mainly of the breast) and genetic structure. About phylogenetics of this species you can see:
DIETZEN, C., H. H. WITT & M. WINK (2003). The phylogeographic differentiation of the robin Erithacus rubecula Linnaeus, 1758, on the Canary Islands revealed by mitochondrial DNA sequence data and morphometrics: evidence for a new robin species on Gran Canaria? Avian Science 3: 115-131.
Hi Micha
You could check Xeno-canto website, there are many recordings (with sonograms) from all over Europe. mainly subspecies E. r. rubecula, also E. r. tataricus:
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Erithacus-rubecula
I´m curious... How do you know those birds (you say "presumed") are from Eastern Europe? Are some of them ringed?
@Rubén: Thank you for your reply! Very useful indeed!
@José: Thank you for your reply as well. I am asking this for 2 highschool students who need help with a project, so an answer from the view they have I can't give you at the moment. However, my experience is that the Robin that visits my garden in winter months does not sound like the robin that visits my garden during the summer. And when I listen to recordings on XC I can hear that difference as wel!
Which differences do you hear in winter that you also hear in eastern European robins?
Without knowing the sex and origin of the birds, there might be another explanation for hearing differences between wintering and breeding birds. In the breeding season, only the males sing (both sexes are present in the same territory, which the male defends). In autumn/winter, both sexes can be found singing (males and females defend separate feeding territories). The songs of males and females differ; females tend to sing with less variation than males. Thus, in winter quite a few singing robins are females and the difference in song is perhaps noticeable in the field. There is a paper by Hoelzel (1986, Ibis) on this subject.
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