Song sparrow1/10/2023 Not all birds showed the same pattern of signaling. Birds who had song-matched were the mostly likely to attack. Most of the sparrows in the study, 31out of 48, eventually attacked. There are less costly ways to persuade an aggressor to back down.” “Birds generally do all this signaling,” Akçay said, “because it’s usually beneficial to avoid getting into a fight if it can be avoided. When the stuffed bird did not react to those higher-level warning signals, the live bird attacked: See wing waving at the 27-second mark of this video: ![]() Wing waving, a vigorous vibrating of one wing at a time, likewise looks harmless enough, but it too is an assertive signal. Soft song is not lullaby-like, but is perceived as menacing by enemies. When the simulated intruder moved into the territory and persisted in singing, the defending sparrow progressed to higher-level warnings including soft songs and wing waves. Many of the sparrows responded first by matching the intruder’s song. At the same time, the researchers uncovered the stuffed sparrow just above the speaker, with its beak posed as if it was singing. The song was then played from a different speaker placed 20 meters (60 feet) inside his boundary, which simulated movement by the rival into the territory. Believing the song to come from a hidden aggressor close to their home turf, the provoked bird sang and approached the speaker. The song was first played just outside of the sparrow’s territory. To feign an intruder, they perched a stuffed song sparrow in a bush or tree and played the recorded song. The researchers recorded songs from 48 sparrows living in Discovery Park in Seattle. He has a repertoire of eight to 10 songs that he uses to attract mates, post his territory, communicate with neighbors, and, as in the newest study, threaten an intruder. “We designed our experiment to simulate an escalating intrusion by another song sparrow, so that our subject would begin with low-level threat signals before switching to higher-level threat signals.”Ī male song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) will defend his territory against any male song sparrow that intrudes. “We succeeded here because we recognized that song-matching is an early warning signal,” said co-author Michael Beecher, a UW professor of psychology. ![]() Previous studies had hinted, but had not clearly established, that song-matching is a threat signal. The study, published online this month in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, is the first evidence that song-matching is used as an early warning signal. Their segment begins at the 17-minute mark: “Bird Talk: Not Always As Pretty As It Sounds” Beecher and Akçay talked to KUOW’s Katy Sewall about their findings and went with her to Discovery Park to re-enact their experiment.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |