Improvisational Birdsong

Cool excerpt on a subject I’m interested in right now, birdsong and how birds learn and develop their repertoire (which is essentially what I’m doing right now as well)…

Although it is generally agreed that birdsong serves two basic functions, mate attraction and territory maintenance, there are striking differences in how various songbirds acquire the songs needed for these functions. In many species, young males imitate only conspecific songs heard during a sensitive period of song acquisition. In contrast, several species mimic heterospecific songs (e.g., Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos). Others not only mimic, but also create new versions of song through progressive modification of previously memorized song, known as improvisation, and/or through invention of entirely new songs unlike anything heard by the young bird (e.g., Gray Catbird, Dumetella carolinensis). There are also species that rely almost entirely on improvisation or invention to develop songs (e.g., Sedge Wren, Cistothorus platensis). While imitation and mimicry are widespread among all taxa with vocal learning (e.g., dolphins, hummingbirds, songbirds, parrots), improvisation or invention has been documented in only a few songbird species (e.g., Nightingale, Luscinia megarhynchos, Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea, Sedge Wren) and possibly the signature whistles of dolphins.

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This entry was written by enjoying autumn, posted on April 12, 2008 at 4:09 pm.

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2 Comments

  1. Big Elk
    Posted April 12, 2008 at 4:31 pm | Permalink

    http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=25

    The American Robin has a large repertoire of songs and calls. It is one of the first birds to begin singing in the morning and one of the last to be heard at night. The male is the most vocal, usually singing from high vantage points mainly in the morning and most frequently during courtship. He continues to sing until the young hatch, when he generally stops, resuming after the young fledge, or begin to fly. Perhaps the best-known song is the familiar “cheerily” carol: cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up. The mating song is similar and is accompanied by the male displaying and lifting his tail higher than his head. The territory or whisper song, hisselly-hisselly, is soft and ventriloquistic.

    In addition to their singing, robins make a variety of calls, from the well-known alarm cheep and disturbed tuktuk to a scolding chirp accompanied by tail jerking. Some birds sing in July and August, when they are moulting, or replacing their feathers, but the songs become shorter and quieter, except for a brief resurgence at the end of September. While most singing stops by the end of October, singing can be common in the winter. Calls continue throughout the year.

  2. the brooke (a tiny ocean).
    Posted April 14, 2008 at 6:48 pm | Permalink

    My friends up in the hills have a cockatiel, Sleepydoo. He’s the most adorable, shy little thing. If you teach him a song and he takes to it, he’ll practice it and practice it till he gets it down perfect. He’ll wait till you’re not in the room to do this, which I think is strange but cute as hell. You can hear audible frustration in his whistle when he screws up. You should get a bird, Tim! Cockatiels are great. And what a unique duet that would make. You could go on the road with that.

    I like this topic and how it corresponds with the reemergence of all the spring singing birdies. I’ve been trying to talk to them. They probably think I’m retarded.

    In keeping with this theme, I give you a song dear to my heart:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O7LXy7Wrv4

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  1. By What’s the cardinal connection? - [tmbchr]â„¢ on April 12, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    [...] Continuing on my bird line of associations… [...]

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