Representation of Conspecific Song by Chickadees: Comparisons Among Embedded 'fee Bees'

Captive black-capped chickadees (Parus atricapillus) were presented with normal (2-note) and lengthened (3-note) songs to investigate how note number and order are represented. Normal fee bee (FB) song was embedded in four different 3-note sequences containing an additional fee (F) or bee (B). Latency to vocalize after playback varied with the position, but not the type of added note, (i.e. slower responses to BFB and FFB than to FBF and FBB). Latency did not differ appreciably between normal (2-note) and these 3-note songs. The presence of normal 2-note song in each 3-note song may override note count. Our results provide further evidence that chickadees represent the absolute temporal location of the first, but not the last note of conspecific song.