Cultural atlas of vocal variation in the yellow-naped amazon parrot

Vocal dialects are a taxonomically widespread phenomenon, which are usually studied in a restricted portion of a species’ range. It is unclear whether geographic patterns observed in one part of a species’ range can be inferred as typical across the range or whether local conditions influence the presence or absence of dialects. We examined the yellow-naped amazon, Amazona auropalliata, a parrot species with remarkable vocal learning capabilities. Although this species is native to Mesoamerica, only Costa Rican populations have been evaluated long-term. Previous studies have shown that these populations exhibit geographically and temporally stable vocal dialect patterns. Without data on populations outside of Costa Rica, it is impossible to know if vocal dialects are present in northern range populations, and whether or not they exhibit similar geographic structure to southern range populations. We recorded yellow-naped amazon contact calls at 47 different sites across the range between..., ,