birdsong
grrlscientist | November 14, 2008tags: neurobiology, neuroscience, animal communication, birdsong, premotor nucleus HVC, brain temperature, neural circuitry, motor behaviors, bioacoustics
Captive-bred Zebra Finch, Taeniopygia guttata, at
Bodelwyddan Castle Aviary, Denbighshire, Wales.
Image: Adrian Pingstone/Wikipedia [larger view].
Birdsong is the primary model system that helps scientists understand how the brain produces complex sequences of learned behavior, such as playing the piano. In songbirds, there are many interconnected brain regions that play specific and important role in the production of song. These…
grrlscientist | October 28, 2008tags: blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus, extrapair fertilization, genetic benefit hypothesis, genetic similarity, plumage color, birdsong, ornithology, behavioral ecology
Blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus.
Image: Paul Hillion, 26 April 2008.
Even though most bird species form social bonds with their mates, they are not always faithful partners to each other. It's easy to figure out why male birds engage in extrapair copulations: this increases the total number of their offspring -- and this increases their reproductive fitness. But since female birds are physically capable of producing only…
grrlscientist | September 20, 2008tags: political views, politics, physiology, threat response, psychology, philosophyfight or flight, nature versus nurture
Most Americans have been actively engaged in the frustrating sport of arguing about politics, which often leads to the common refrain; "You just don't get it!" So this made me wonder why people who seem to have similar life experiences can end up with such dramatically different personal philosophies -- philosophies that ultimately affect their political views and voting behavior. Apparently, I am not the only one to wonder about such things, because a paper was just…
grrlscientist | July 11, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, birdsong, personality traits, mate choice, sexual selection, risk taking, European collared flycatcher, Ficedula albicollis, László Zsolt Garamszegi
Male European collared flycatcher, Ficedula albicollis, singing.
Image: Beijershamn Ãland, 23 May 2004 [link].
Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel 1/1000s f/8.0 at 400.0mm iso400.
Most people don't believe that animals possess distinct personalities, although they readily recognize and can describe individual personalities among their family, friends and neighbors and are aware of the importance of individual…
zooillogix | November 29, 2007Researchers from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen in the UK are conducting a study on the relationship between bird songs and... uh... apparently any facet of the human experience. In what sounds to me like an interesting premise with impossibly broad scope, they will attempt to determine "how bird sounds evoke time, place and season and how people experience and draw upon bird sounds in science, art, music and their everyday lives" explained Dr. Whitehouse, lead project researcher. In case that wasn't enough, the good doctor has thrown technology into the mix. "…
zooillogix | July 24, 2007Finally, New Jersey tax payers are investing time and money to discern birds' preference in popular music. Elizabeth Demaray and John Walsh at Rutgers University are conducting an exhibition, featuring four ten-foot tall red perches. On each perch a different style of music will be played on repeat: classical, rock, country and jazz. The songs will include Vivaldi's Concert in D Major', Miles Davis's 'Blue and Green', Led Zepplin's 'Kasmir', 'Marching Jaybird' by Etta Baker, 'Birds' by Neil Young, and 'I'm a Cuckoo' by Belle and Sebastian. The intrepid researchers will then record the…
zooillogix | July 9, 2007Scientists have long known that birds develop local dialects, but they didn't know that birds' languages can go out of style with the times. According to an article in England's Daily Mail, behavioral ecologist Elizabeth Derryberry tested songs of male whitecrowned sparrows from the 1970's against songs recorded this year. When Derryberry played the modern songs to a group of 10 female and 20 male sparrows, the female birds started courting behavior and the males became territorial. When she played the old-school recordings (which were of the same sound quality), however, the group of birds…