News tagged with songbirds
Dramatic links found between climate change, elk, plants, and birds
Climate change in the form of reduced snowfall in mountains is causing powerful and cascading shifts in mountainous plant and bird communities through the increased ability of elk to stay at high elevations over winter and ...
Jan 10, 2012 |
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New research finds promiscuousness results in genetic 'trade-up,' more offspring
It's all about the grandkids! That's what a team led by an Indiana University biologist has learned about promiscuous female birds and why they mate outside their social pair.
Aug 31, 2011 |
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Avian 'Axe effect' attracts attention of females and males
In a case of life imitating art, avian scents given off by male songbirds have the females (and males) flocking in.
Jul 19, 2011 |
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MicroRNAs in the songbird brain respond to new songs (w/ video)
Whenever it hears an unfamiliar song from a bird of the same species, a zebra finch stops chirping, hopping and grooming. It listens attentively for minutes at a time, occasionally cocking its head but otherwise ...
Jun 30, 2011 |
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Old, large, living trees must be left standing to protect nesting animals: study
Old trees must be protected to save the homes of more than 1,000 different bird and mammal species who nest, says a new study from the University of British Columbia. Most animals can't carve out their own tree holes and ...
Jun 16, 2011 |
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Birdsong independent of brain size
(PhysOrg.com) -- The brains of all vertebrates display gender-related differences. In songbirds, for example, the size of the brain areas that control their singing behaviour could be linked to the size of ...
Jun 13, 2011 |
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Tweeting teenage songbirds reveal impact of social cues on learning
In a finding that once again displays the power of the female, UCSF neuroscientists have discovered that teenage male songbirds, still working to perfect their song, improve their performance in the presence of a female bird.
Feb 26, 2011 |
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What songbirds can teach us about the brain
(PhysOrg.com) -- Professor Sarah Woolley does research on males who mate for life and help out around the home. If you asked where these creatures can be found, she might direct your attention outdoors.
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Feb 23, 2011 |
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Songbird's strategy for changing its tune could inform rehab efforts
It takes songbirds and baseball pitchers thousands of repetitions – a choreography of many muscle movements -- to develop an irresistible trill or a killer slider. Now, scientists have discovered that the male Bengalese ...
Jan 31, 2011 |
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Night lights affect songbirds' mating life
In today's increasingly urbanized world, the lights in many places are always on, and according to a report published online on September 16 in of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, that's having a real ...
Sep 16, 2010 |
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Putting muscle into birdsong: Wide range of pitch is due to vocal muscles more than air pressure
Female zebra finches don't sing but make one-note, low-pitch calls. Males sing over a wide range of frequencies. University of Utah scientists discovered how: The males' stronger vocal muscles, not the pressure ...
Jun 29, 2010 |
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Fire may be key to reviving dogwood trees in Eastern forests
Proper and timely burning of some Eastern U.S. forests could help revitalize flowering dogwood trees, which benefits a wide range of species, a Purdue University report shows.
Jun 08, 2010 |
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Lasers help researchers predict birds' preferred habitat
Every spring, migratory birds like the Black-throated Blue Warbler journey from tropical Caribbean or South American refuges to North American forests. But which forest patch will they call home this year? ...
Jun 01, 2010 |
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Study shows costs and benefits of testosterone in birds
Do nice guys finish last, or will the meek inherit the earth? A new study published in The American Naturalist suggests that, at least for birds, the right answer is somewhere in between.
May 13, 2010 |
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Darwin's finch and the evolution of smell
Darwin's finches - some 14 related species of songbirds found on the Galapagos and Cocos Islands - will forever be enshrined in history for having planted the seeds of the theory of evolution through natural selection. Today, ...
Apr 06, 2010 |
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Songbird
Many, see text
A songbird is a bird belonging to the order of Passeriformes (ca. 4000 species), in which the vocal organ is developed in such a way as to produce various sound notes, commonly known as bird song. There is evidence to suggest that songbirds evolved about 50 million years ago in the western part of Gondwana that later became Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and Antarctica, before spreading around the world.
This 'bird song' is essentially territorial in that it communicates the identity and whereabouts of an individual to other birds and also signals sexual intentions. It is not to be confused with bird calls, which are used for alarms and contact, and are especially important in birds that feed or migrate in flocks.
Other birds have songs to attract mates or hold territory, but these are usually simple and repetitive, lacking the variety of many passerine songs. The monotonous repetition of the Common Cuckoo or Little Crake can be contrasted with the variety of a Nightingale or Marsh Warbler.
Although many songbirds have songs which are pleasant to the human ear, this is not invariably the case. Many members of the crow family make croaks or screeches which sound harsh to humans.
For more information about Songbird, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
