Bird News 03-05
07 29 05 Neotropical Bird “Sings” With Wings
Males of the new-world species the club-winged manakins (Machaeropterus deliciosus), produce a call using their wings and specialized feathers. Flipping their wings up over their backs, the birds rapidly tap the wings together.
06 23 05 Chickadee Calls Carry Information About Predators
Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapilla) use a sophisticated signaling system to warn other chickadees not only if a predator is moving rapidly, but also to transmit information on the degree of threat posed by stationary predators of different sizes.
10 02 04 Bowerbirds Destroy Neighboring Bowers
On Quirks & Quarks, Bob McDonald interviews Joah Madden, from the department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge on the tendency of Bowerbirds to destroy neighboring bowers. The Quirks page includes links to two other Q&Q stories on Bowerbirds.
Q&Q Bowerbird Bullies
06 19 04 Indigo Birds May Speciate Based on Learned Song
African indigobirds (Vidua spp.) parasitize the nests of other bird species. But learning the songs of their host species may lead to speciation. On Quirks & Quarks, host Bob McDonald interviews Michael Sorenson, a professor of Biology at Boston University, who researches indigobirds.
Q&Q Indigo Birds Speciating Songs
05 13 05 Canaries Show Surprising Flexibility in Song Learning
Scientists succeeded in teaching young male canaries to accurately imitate computer-generated songs that were unlike natural canary songs. But as the males reached breeding age, they began singing songs structured more like normal adult canary songs. “Given the many parallels in the ways in which birds and humans go about vocal learning, there may also be common neural mechanisms underlying the ways in which they can access and sequence the learned vocal units,” the researchers write in the May 13 Science.
“Freedom and Rules: The Acquisition and Reprogramming of a Bird’s Learned Song,” by Timothy J. Gardner, Felix Naef, Fernando Nottebohm
04 28 05 Social Bird Learns Kin Recognition
Long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus) chicks learn specific calls from the adults that rear them in the nest; they use this information to discriminate between kin and non-kin.
04 25 05 Songbird Color Vision: Attracting Mates, Avoiding Predators
Differences in color vision allow songbirds to be less obvious to predators yet maintain their attractiveness to other songbirds.
03 29 05 Two New Books on Birdsong
Understanding Birdsong—and Its Fans: WHYY’s Terry Gross interviews Donald Kroodsma, author of The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong and Don Stap, author of Birdsong. Audubon also has an article about Kroodsma’s book.
02 16 05 Early-morning Rustiness Helps Birds Practice Song
Sleep helps young birds master the art of song. But it does so in a surprising way—when birds wake up they are worse than before they went to sleep, but then improve markedly during their morning’s practice.
12 13 04 Song-learning Strategies of Songbirds
To learn the Zebra finch song—a task essential to mating—young males can employ either of two learning strategies. Some birds repeat a single song segment until they learn it, then move on to the next song segment. Other males practice the whole song at once. Both strategies are successful.
12 08 04 Sparrows learn a complete song from song snippets
A songbird can learn an entire song after hearing only overlapping snippets of tutor song, scientists report.
Ring doves, Streptopelia risoria, use special superfast muscles to control their song, much as the rattlesnake does to operate its rattle.
Male zebra finches pay attention to the mating status of other zebra finches and modify their own behavior, including their song, when interacting with their female partners.
Unlike young female satin bowerbirds, experienced females pay more attention to a male’s courtship display than to his decorated bower.
01 23 04 Cowbird Song and Dance
A male cowbird can sing, dance and breathe all at the same time. But during the most elaborate wing movements, the song ceases.
08 21 03 Bird song prompts species split
African indigobirds (Vidua spp.) lay their eggs in the nests of other species, and both males and females learn the songs of their hosts. Recognition of host songs appears to have driven speciation among indigobirds.
08 07 03 Bird song on the brain
In starlings, familiar tunes can trigger specific nerve cells into action.
07 17 03 Urban birds raise their voices over the din
Great tits hit the high notes to ensure that their mating calls are heard above the city’s din.
06 13 03 Human speech and birdsong
Human babies may learn to talk by receiving feedback from caregivers, similar to the way many bird species use social feedback to learn songs.
05 22 03 Birds filter frequencies from songs
Recording a dove’s song from near its voice box, or syrinx, shows that doves sing pure tones by filtering out overtones.
A male club-winged manakin (Machaeropterus deliciosus) calls by rapidly tapping his wings behind his back.
Photo and audio © 2005 Kimberly S. Bostwick
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