Diel and Seasonal Variations of Vocal Behavior of the Neotropical White-Tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi)

Current knowledge regarding the vocal behavior in tropical non-passerines is very limited. Here, we employed passive acoustic monitoring to study the vocal activity of the white-tipped dove (Leptotila verreauxi) at three sites over a year in the Brazilian Pantanal. The diel pattern of vocal activity showed a bimodal pattern, with significantly higher vocal activity after sunrise than during the other hours of the day, in agreement with prior studies on this species and other members of Columbidae. The species was vocally active throughout the year, but vocal activity was maximum during May-June and lowest during January-February. Relative air humidity was positively associated with vocal activity, which may be related to the improvement of sound transmission under more humid conditions, but it could also be related to foraging efficiency due to a higher availability of invertebrates on wetter days. Vocal activity was not related to the mean air temperature or daily rainfall. Acoustic monitoring proved to be a useful tool for monitoring this shy forest species, for which a minimum number of three monitoring days was needed to detect a reliable vocal activity rate. Future studies should evaluate its use for monitoring other species of doves and pigeons that are secretive or threatened.