Birds sing more flexibly when the weather fluctuates

A new study of the North American nightingale has shown that birds that live in erratic weather patterns will sing more flexibly.

To test this idea, researchers at the Australian National University and the National Center for Evolutionary Studies analyzed the voice recordings of more than 400 male birds of 44 North American paint species. This dataset includes golden birds, thrushers, warblers, sparrows, patriarchs, finches .

According to the Science Daily, the researchers used computer software to convert each recording into a spectral image. Like the music spectrum, complex line patterns and stripes in a spectral image, scientists can see and analyze each piece of sound visually.

For each bird in this dataset, they measured vocal characteristics such as length, highest and lowest notes, number of notes, and distance between notes.

When they combined this data with recordings of temperature, precipitation, and other information such as habitat and range of life, they found a surprising pattern: the males must undergo conditions. more volatile weather has more flexible singing.

'They can sing really low or really high notes, or they can adjust to small or fast degrees , ' said study co-author Clinton Francis of the National Center for General Evolution.

In addition to seasonal weather fluctuations, experts also study geographic differences and also see a similar pattern. The species that live where there is a big difference in rainfall will sing more complex melodies.'Rainfall is closely related to the abundance of trees in the habitat' , explained co-author Iliana Medina of the Australian National University.

In other words, changing plants means changing the sound environment.

Another research group reported a similar relationship between the environment with birdsong in mockingbirds in 2009, but this is the first study to show the general pattern of many birds.