Do morphological traits constrain song traits in a family (Icteridae) with diverse feeding adaptations?

HANNAH MIRANDO; GARCÍA, NATALIA C.

Congreso; VII NORTH AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGICAL CONFERENCE; 2020

Song production and its evolution in birds can be influenced by morphological traits such as beak morphology and body size. Larger beaks have been known to constrain note rate and frequency bandwidth in some species, and internal body structure also affects the properties of a bird?s vocalization. The New World Blackbirds (Passeriformes: Icteridae) is a family of birds with a diverse range of beak morphologies and associated jaw musculature, related to the different feeding habits found in this clade. Here, we analyze the relationship between different acoustic variables and beak dimensions in a group of species in the Icteridae family. We found that larger beaks are associated with lower emphasized frequencies as found in previous studies. Interestingly, we did not find the predicted relation of temporal structure of song and beak size. This could be related to the aforementioned adaptations to different diets, as several previous studies have compared species with similar diets.