Birds transmit success messages in songs

Some song-singing migratory birds can find the best place to live by overhearing the songs of other birds that have children. This behavioral and communicative character is so strong that even if researchers use tape to lure them to the nesting place they even stay away from those places.

This suggests that songbirds have a much more complex communication ability than we know. Social clues can be equally important or more than the natural conditions of a certain living environment.

The discovery was published in a specialized newspaper, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, by Oregon State University scientists and Wellesley University colleagues, Queen's University and Trent University in Ontario, Canada. perform.

Matthew Betts - assistant professor of Oregon state university, majoring in forest science and an ecologist, said: "Finding the right habitat to breed is a matter between life and death for most birds, their life time is not much and they have to find the right place for the first time. '

'The wisdom is that they choose a single nesting site based on the vegetation structure. If a bird chooses nesting place without shelter or food supply, it will certainly not be able to reproduce successfully. But we now know that young birds can listen to the songs of more experienced and successful birds and then use the information obtained to decide where they will nest next year . '

What birds hear may be more important than what they actually observe or experience.(Photo: flickr.com)

Scientists discovered this through empirical studies at 54 research sites with black-necked blue warbler in the White Mountains of New Hampshire state. During the fall when some birds had a mate and sang songs for the young birds - perhaps to teach them how to sing, the researchers turned on the tape to record their songs at other locations that were The environment is very bad for birds. The other black-necked warblers flew by, hearing the sound of the song immediately deciding that this was definitely a suitable place to live despite the observable bad environmental conditions. They even went back to the same place to make their nests the following spring.

Males tend to listen to 'instructions' from singing 4 times more than their actual experience of their natural habitat. Even when the males have made the wrong choice, the females are too confident in the quality of the male bird but also follow the mate.

Betts said: 'We observed a lot of birds coming to settle in an inappropriate habitat, just because they heard the tape of our birds singing last year. We are really surprised at the impact of this kind of communication. '

The study was conducted only in a songbird but the results are probably related to at least some other songbirds, even animals. There are still many things we do not know about nature and the importance of forms of communication in animals, but studies like this show that real animals 'talk' with gestures society to communicate information of relative importance.

In the natural world, creating sounds in any form has a price to pay. That sound can alert predators about our appearance. Therefore 'it is perfectly reasonable if sound communication is at risk, it must certainly bring important benefits'.

Sometimes we understand that birds create different sounds and songs for certain reasons, such as territorial protection or attracting partners. A smooth song is often used if there are children. Research is based on the meaning of that form of communication at a higher level, implying that what birds hear may be more important than what they actually observe or experience.

This ability is probably useful when climate change occurs or rapid changes in the living environment. This is a very valuable shortcut. If birds can hear sound clues and then make quick decisions about important things on par with future nesting choices, they will react faster and more suitable to the condition. The environment is degraded without having to go there to test yourself.

Betts said: 'If a bird flies over a large area and only needs to hear the songs of other children to find 10 suitable nesting places, this will bring great benefits'.

'Most migratory birds are territorial and they still scramble for breeding sites every year. But there may be a place that is abandoned by dead birds in the winter. With a bit of energy the birds have found a nesting place to nourish their youngsters just by listening to the birds 'songs for their success.'