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Features of Male- and Female-Produced Song in Black-Capped Chickadees (Poecile Atricapillus) Change Between Seasons
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Of the 10 000 or so known avian species, nearly half belong to the clade Passeri[1]. Also called Oscines, or songbirds, birds in this group are unique in that they possess a morphologically complex vocal organ, the syrinx, which facilitates the production of complex and diverse vocalizations, including their song[2]. Songbird song is often learned and functions in both territory defense and mate attraction[3].
Though songbird song has been extensively studied, most research has focused on temperate species in which males tend to sing long, complex songs and females have been thought not to sing[4]. Recently, increasing accounts of female song in temperate species have been documented, suggesting that both males and females produce song[5]. Despite this, quantitative evaluations of the acoustic structure of female song, especially as compared to male song, are lacking (though see [6] - [8]).
The production and acoustic structure of female song was recently described in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus)[8]. These small, North American songbirds produce an acoustically simple song, the fee-bee, as compared to most other songbird species, consisting of only two notes9. Though we now know that both sexes produce fee-bee song, the function of female song is not yet well understood. In this experiment, we sought to investigate how male- and female-produced black-capped chickadee fee-bee song changed in acoustic structure throughout the year. -
- Date created
- 2019-01-01
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- Type of Item
- Article (Published)