Predation risk associated with group singing in a Neotropical wood-quail

Decades of fruitful research on the study of vocal communication in birds have provided surprisingly little evidence of a predation cost associated with singing. In this paper, 1 report the first observational evidence of a risk of predation associated with chorusing in a Neotropical wood-quail. Black breasted Wood-Quail (Odontophorus leucolaemus) live in groups year-round and produce coordinated group choruses or duets. Three mammalian and two avian species of predators were attracted to playbacks of recorded wood-quail choruses that 1 used during population surveys and capture attempts from March to August, 2000-2002. The trade-off between signaling and predation risk may be an important force in the evolution of chorusing in New World quails. Received 12 February 2004, accepted 19 July 2004.
Long distance vocalizations are used for territory defense, mate attraction, and other functions in a variety of animals (Bradbury and Vehrencamp 1998, Todt and Naguib 2000). Whenever such signals are [...]