Program Content

In the previous program, we explored small local song dialects that became established in patches of chaparral habitat growing back after a forest fire. Larger regional song dialects can arise when populations of birds are isolated by distance or geological barriers.

In this program, we listen to white-crowned sparrow dialects recorded by Chris Tenney: two from central coastal regions and one from the Sierra Nevadas, slowing down the songs to hear the dialects better.

Sound Sources

Chris Tenney recorded the white crowned sparrows at Big Sur, Pebble Beach, and in the Sierra Nevadas. The Marin headlands post-wildfire white-crowned sparrow dialects are from CD accompanying Donald Kroodsma's book The Singing Life of Birds