Dear colleagues, I'm now working on communal roosting in ibis. Obviously the species uses vocal communication to depart roost in flocks. I want to check whether it is always the same individual initiating the call, which may indicate social hierarchy. Unfortunately, although most of the individuals are numbered ringed, the roost departure is too early in the morning to identify through observation. I plan to record the calls for individual identification. Is this possible? Thanks in advance.
Hello,
I think it might be possible, but it is very hard task. I have attached following papers as reference.
Article Call-independent individual identification in birds
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/how-to-learn-bird-songs-and-calls/
Here are some references that might be helpful:
Fernández-Juricic, E., del Nevo, A. J., & Poston, R. (2009). Identification of individual and population-level variation in vocalizations of the endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus). The Auk, 126(1), 89-99.
Holschuh, C. I., & Otter, K. A. (2005). Using vocal individuality to monitor Queen Charlotte Saw-whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus brooksi). Journal of Raptor Research, 39(2), 134.
Rognan, C. B., Szewczak, J. M., & Morrison, M. L. (2009). Vocal individuality of great gray owls in the Sierra Nevada. Journal of Wildlife Management, 73(5), 755-760.
Yes, It is possible to identify the individual bird species by its call pattern. Because the calls and songs are species specific and unique in their pattern. An experienced ornithologist will be able to easily identify the bird without physically looking at it.
A much more accurate method would be to use RFID tags or transmitters. Individuals are very difficult to identify by voice, especially in a a noisy environment such as a communal roost. I know of no such work on Ibis. John
Thank you everyone. Yeah it will be very noisy when many ibises calls. My aim is to record the first call at the very beginning of communication (this is feasible), and try to identify whether these calls are initiated by same individual day by day, by comparing call pattern. The call of ibis is repeat one-syllable co-co-co... I'm not sure whether this pattern is personalized and can be distinguished by software.
As I already mentioned bird's calls and songs are species- specific and can be estimated. for further details refer "The life of birds' by Welty.
Dear Asokan, thank you for your comments. I'm more intereted in individuality of calls in a single species. Could you kindly advise me?
For eg Crow ka...ka..ka..
Sparrow, Peacock, parrot, quail, lark , hen, duck etc . each one produces a specific call pattern.
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