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A specific call of the Moluccan megapode (Eulipoa wallacei)

Technical Report · January 2017

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Halvina Grasela Saiya

University of Indonesia
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Cornelis Johannes Heij

Natuurhistorisch Museum - Rotterdam
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Summary

A specific call of the Moluccan

megapode (Eulipoa wallacei)

Authors: Willem C. Verboom

Halvina G. Saiya
Cornelis J. Heij

Memo no: 201705 Date:

January 2017
The Moluccan megapode (Eulipoa wallacei) is one of the birds of the Moluccas
Islands in Eastern-Indonesia and is very vocal. They produce a large variety of calls. This
paper describes one of those calls, a '(double) whistle' followed by a series of pulses produced
at a rate of 5 pulses/s,. The call consist of rather pure tones of around 2150 and 2500 Hz,
including a number of weak harmonics. The number of pulses varies (in this study between 7
and 16).

Introduction
The Moluccan megapode (Eulipoa wallacei) is a species living on several islands of the
Malay Archipelago in Eastern-Indonesia. The birds inhabit tropical mountain forests, far from
the civilized world. They lay their eggs in the sand of beaches, for instance on the beaches of
Haruku Island, where two nesting grounds are known: Kailolo Village and Haruku Village.
Heij & Verboom (2005) and Verboom & Heij (2017) published a description of E. wallacei
vocalizations during egg-laying activities, recorded (by CJH) in 1994 and 1998 at the Kailolo
nesting grounds. Saiya et al. (2016) described communication calls between wild and caged
Eulipoa, recorded in 2016 at the Haruku Village conservation and nesting grounds. These
recordings appeared to contain five different types of vocalization. One of these 'types' was a
call consisting of a 'double whistle' followed by a series of tonal pulses. The present paper
describes fourteen recordings of this specific call, in Saiya et al. (2016) indicated as the 'Type
C' call.

Recordings
Fourteen Type C calls were recorded on August 31, 2016 between 6:04 and 7:14 h AM,
using the video system in a Samsung Galaxy tablet (type 4 7.0 SM-T231; frequency range 20
Hz - 14 kHz). The sound registrations were carried out (by HGS) at the Megapode
conservation site and nesting grounds near Haruku Village (coordinates: S 3°36' 31.43" and E

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Netherlands
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128°25' 03.84 - see Saiya et al., 2016 for more information). At the time of recording, the
weather was sunny, somewhat cloudy. During the sound recordings, the (caged) population of
the conservation site consisted of two adult birds and two young birds. Also wild Eulipoa
visited the site during the recordings.

Analysis
Analyses of the recordings were carried out, using computerized narrow-band analysis
systems with Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) software, such as SEA wave 1.0 (Gianni Pavan,
Italy) and Avisoft-SASLab Light (R. Specht, Germany) for the sonograms (frequency as a
function of time). Custom-made software was used for the time displays (sound pressure as a
function of time) and detailed spectral analysis (sound level as a function of frequency).
Table 1: Duration (in ms) of components in fourteen 'Type C' calls
n T T1 T2 T3
Number of pulses Total call Duration comp. A Duration comp. Repetition time pulses
Call in comp. B duration [ms] [ms] B [ms] in comp. B [ms]
1 16 4127 405 3038 190
2 16 4267 457 3208 201
3 13 3577 399 2484 191
4 7 2438 424 1300 186
5 16 4339 366 3247 203
6 15 4041 422 2917 194
7 14 3880 441 2744 196
8 12 3392 442 2326 194
9 13 3659 542 2634 203
10 12 3464 432 2386 199
11 13 3500 400 2481 191
12 10 3018 436 1958 196
13 14 3900 470 2850 204
14 8 2503 481 1530 191
mean 12.8 3579 437 2507 196
St.Dev. 2.8 594 42.8 584 5.5

Results

Spectrogram
As an example Figure 1-1 depicts the spectrogram of one of the Type C calls, consisting
of a 'whistle' (indicated as component A) and a series of tonal pulses (indicated as component
B). As can be seen, most of the sound energy is concentrated in the range between 2 - 2.5
kHz. Weak harmonics are present. The number of pulses in component B is variable and
varied between 7 and 16 in the present recordings. In the spectrogram the duration of the
various call components is indicated as follows:
T = duration of the total call;
T1 = duration of component A;
T2 = duration of component B - all pulses together;
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T3 = the averaged repetition time of the individual pulses in component B - (T3 =

T2/n) n = number of pulses in component B.
Table 1 gives the duration T - T3 for the individual calls (in ms), as well is the mean value for
n = 14 and the Standard Deviation.

Time display
A time display of the call is shown in Figure 1-2. In this call the first component - the
whistle - seemed to consist of two parts; therefore in Saiya et al. (2016) this component is
indicated by 'double whistle'. However, in other calls there is no interruption and component
A is one whistle.

Spectral analysis
Figure 2 shows the result of a narrow-band Fast Fourier Transform analysis (FFT),
resulting in a Power Spectral Density (PSD) level. The analysis frequency range is 0 – 8 kHz;
analysis bandwidth [df] is 91.3 Hz. Three spectra are shown at different parts of the call: -- the
spectrum of component A, with two energy peaks at ~2150 and ~2450 Hz and harmonics;
-- the spectrum of the first two pulses of component B, with identical peak frequencies, but at
different levels;
-- the spectrum of five pulses at the end of component B, with a dominant peak at ~2150 Hz
and a very small peak at ~2450 Hz.

Table 2 gives a review of the frequency peaks in the spectra of all fourteen calls. Note that the
analysis bandwidth was 47 Hz, so the signal was sampled in steps of 47 Hz.

Table 2: Dominant frequency components in 'Type C' calls (analysis bandwidth 47 Hz)
Comp. A Peak Comp. A Comp. B Comp. B Peak
Call 1 Peak 2 Peak 1 2
1 2156 2437 2156 2531
2 2203 2437 2156 2531
3 2203 2484 2156 2531
4 2156 2484 2109 2484
5 2203 2437 2156 2484
6 2156 2437 2156 2531
7 2203 2437 2156 2531
8 2109 2437 2109 2484
9 2109 -- 2203 2531
10 2156 -- 2156 2531
11 2156 2437 2156 2531
12 2203 2437 2203 2578
13 2109 -- 2156 2484
14 2156 2437 2156 2531
mean 2163 2446 2156 2521

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St.Dev. 36 19 26 27

Conclusions

The - what is called here - 'Type C' call consists of two main parts: a 'whistle', which, after
a short time interval of around 650 ms, is followed by a series of tonal pulses. The whistle
may have a very short interruption (and is called then 'double whistle'). The number of pulses
in the second part of the call is variable; the mean number in fourteen calls was 12.8 (S.D.
2.8). The total duration of the call, as well as the duration of the second part, depends on the
number of pulses in the second part of the call and therefore has a rather high S.D. (3579 ±
594 ms, respectively 2507 ± 584 ms). The duration of the first part, however, is rather stable
(437 ± 42.8 ms), as well as the mean repetition time between the pulses (196 ± 5.5 ms).
Consequently, during the second part of the call the bird produces ~5 pulses/s.

In the spectrogram it can be seen that the frequency of all components is very stable,
without modulation. However, the bird seems to need a few milliseconds to adjust a pure call
tone, because in both, the first and the second part of the call, two tones are produced at the
start. In general the first part of the call - the whistle - contains a tone of ~2156 Hz and ~2437
Hz, with 2437 Hz as the main component. The second part - the pulses - contains ~2156 Hz
and ~2531 Hz, with 2156 Hz as the main component. Because the frequency components in
the fourteen calls has almost no spreading, it is assumed that all recorded calls were produced
by the same bird.

The call is often heard in dense forests (pers. obs. CJH); therefore it is hypothesizes that
this call might be classified as an advertisement call, meaning "here I am". This, however, has
to be confirmed by a further study.

References

Heij, C.J., & Verboom, W.C., 2005 - Spectral analysis of vocalisations of the Moluccan
megapode Eulipoa wallacei (Aves: Megapodiidae) during egg-laying activities - Deinsea 11:
151-157, The Netherlands.

Saiya, H.G., Verboom, W.C., Heij, C.J. 2016 - Vocal communication between Moluccan
megapodes (Eulipoa wallacei) - JunoBioacoustics, MEM201604, December 2016, The
Netherlands.

Verboom, W.C., & Heij, C.J., 2017 - Bird vocalizations: Aggressive calls of the Moluccan
megapode (Eulipoa wallacei) - JunoBioacoustics MEM201702, January 2017, The
Netherlands.

JunoBioacoustics Dorpsstraat 1A 1731 RA Winkel The Netherlands

Telephone: ++31 (0)224 227 552 e-mail: wcverboom@hotmail.com
 page 5

Figure 1.
1) A spectrogram of one of 'Type C' calls, consisting of two main components (A and B).
2) The time display of this call, of which the sound pressure amplitude is un-calibrated.
Frequency scale is 0 - 8 kHz. Time scale is 0 - 5 s.

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Telephone: ++31 (0)224 227 552 e-mail: wcverboom@hotmail.com
 page 6

Figure 2. Spectral analysis of the 'Type C' call. Analysis bandwidth is 91.3 Hz.
1) Spectrum of component A.
2) Spectrum of the first two pulses in component B.
3) Spectrum of five pulses at the end of component B.

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Telephone: ++31 (0)224 227 552 e-mail: wcverboom@hotmail.com
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