Annual variation in vocal performance and its relationship with bill morphology in Lincoln's sparrows.

Female Lincoln's sparrows modulate their behavior in response to variation in male song quality.

Sexually reproducing organisms should mate with the highest quality individuals that they can. When female songbirds choose a mate, they are thought to use several aspects of male song that reflect his quality. Under resource-limited environmental conditions, male Lincoln's sparrows (Melospiza lincolnii) vary among one another in several aspects of song quality, including song length, song comp...

Measuring vocal performance in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia), and its relationship to age, morphology and song complexity

HATCHING ORDER AND SEASONAl TIMING OF DEVElOPMENT PREDICT bIll MORPHOlOGy OF NESTlING AND ADUlT lINCOlN’S SPARROwS

Traits under strong directional or stabilizing selection can nonetheless vary considerably if the selective forces impinging on them vary in strength or direction. Although such variation is commonly manifested between unrelated individuals, some of the largest differences occur between siblings because of differences in their developmental experience. This is exemplified by the broods of altri...

The Songbird as a Percussionist: Syntactic Rules for Non-Vocal Sound and Song Production in Java Sparrows

Music and dance are two remarkable human characteristics that are closely related. Communication through integrated vocal and motional signals is also common in the courtship displays of birds. The contribution of songbird studies to our understanding of vocal learning has already shed some light on the cognitive underpinnings of musical ability. Moreover, recent pioneering research has begun t...

Heat Loss May Explain Bill Size Differences between Birds Occupying Different Habitats

BACKGROUND Research on variation in bill morphology has focused on the role of diet. Bills have other functions, however, including a role in heat and water balance. The role of the bill in heat loss may be particularly important in birds where water is limiting. Song sparrows localized in coastal dunes and salt marsh edge (Melospiza melodia atlantica) are similar in size to, but have bills wit...