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Off topic: City birds sing shorter, faster, louder than country birds

From:

Philip Webre

Reply-To:

Philip Webre

Date:

Thu, 7 Dec 2006 16:36:51 -0500

From a technology newsletter:

...As related in National Geographic, that adaptability made the great
tit a great subject for a study that found that city birds sing shorter,
faster, higher-pitched songs than their country cousins. The researchers
from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands think the birds amped
up their songs to be heard over all the city noise, especially the low
rumble of traffic. The biologists went to 10 major cites and nearby
forests to record the songs of the great tits. In all of the urban
areas, the birds dropped the lower-pitched parts of their songs, which
would be muffled by traffic noise and thus a waste of time and energy,
the researchers explained. Country tits usually sing two or three notes
and then repeat them several times. The research found city birds sped
up their songs by shortening the first note of these sets, as well as
the pauses between them. The city tits also sang more varied songs,
ranging from one note to as many as 16 strung together, patterns that
were unusual in the forest, according to the scientists. With song
playing a crucial role in mating and marking territory, researcher Hans
Slabbekoorn said, the only explanation was that changing tunes offered a
decided advantage in the urban jungle. As every country kid who ever
moved to New York City could tell you.