In a valley between the mountains of central
Colombia, the tropical dry forests are home to a remarkable bird called
Niceforo's Wren. Named after the monk who
discovered the species in the 1940's (Brother
Niceforo Maria), these wrens are found in the Chicamocha Valley and
nowhere
else on Earth. Their entire population consists of somewhere between 50
and 100 individuals and they are red-listed as critically endangered by
the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Sandra Valderrama and I, together with Sandra's
colleagues from
Colombia, have been studying the voice of Niceforo's Wrens. Their songs
had never been described before. Our research consisted of recording
and describing the songs of male and female Niceforo's Wrens, and our
report on their voice will appear in a 2008 issue of the scientific
journal The Auk. We
also compared the voices of Niceforo's Wrens to the related
Rufous-and-white Wren in a report that has recently appeared in the
scientific journal The Condor.
Although their voices are superficially similar, our research
demonstrates that their voices are quite distinct
Below, you can navigate a map depicting the songs of Niceforo's Wrens
(Thryothorus nicefori) and
closely related Rufous-and-white Wrens (Thryothorus rufalbus). The shaded
regions shows the range of Rufous-and-white Wrens, from Mexico down to
Colombia and Venezuela -- there are five different subspecies. The tiny
range of Niceforo's Wrens is shown as a shaded circle in the middle of
Colombia. Click on any of the
spectrograms to hear the song. You can read our report describing the
differences in the voices of these sister species here:
A
Niceforo's Wren (top) from Colombia and a Rufous-and-white Wren
(bottom) from Costa Rica. Photos by S.
Valderrama
and D. Mennill
Click on
the sound spectrograms on the map below to hear the songs!
The latin name of
Rufous-and-white Wrens is Thryothorus
rufablus and the range of the species stretches from Mexico to
two parts of Colombia and Venezuela. The latin name of
Niceforo's Wrens is Thryothorus
nicefori and there is only one subspecies, found in central
Colombia.
Our
collaborative research on these amazing singers has
been supported by the Association of Universities and Colleges of
Canada, by ProAves Colombia, by the University of Windsor, and by the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Sandra Valderrama and I, together with Sandra's
colleagues from
Colombia, have been studying the voice of Niceforo's Wrens. Their songs
had never been described before. Our research consisted of recording
and describing the songs of male and female Niceforo's Wrens, and our
report on their voice will appear in a 2008 issue of the scientific
journal 
