Communication Value of Mistakes in Dark-Eyed Junco Song.

Shared songs are of lower performance in the dark-eyed junco

Social learning enables the adjustment of behaviour to complex social and ecological tasks, and underlies cultural traditions. Understanding when animals use social learning versus other forms of behavioural development can help explain the dynamics of animal culture. The dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) is a songbird with weak cultural song traditions because, in addition to learning songs soc...

Song types , song performance , and the use of repertoires in dark - eyed juncos ( Junco hyemalis )

Song performance encompasses the idea of how physiologically demanding different songs are to sing, and this is thought to reflect the singing ability of individual birds. In the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis), each male has a repertoire of song types, some of which are shared with other males in the population. We used 4 measures of performance, based on trade-offs between song traits, to te...

Soft Song in Song Sparrows: Acoustic Structure and Implications for Signal Function

Male songbirds are known for their conspicuous broadcast songs. In most songbird species, broadcast songs are produced at high amplitudes such that their active space (the distance from a sound source over which a signal is detectable) extends well beyond territorial boundaries (Brenowitz 1982; Wiley & Richards 1982; Dabelsteen et al. 1993; Holland et al. 1998; Naguib & Wiley 2001). In addition...

Song, Dance, and Smell Routine? Interpreting the Content and Function of Multimodal Signals in a Songbird, the Dark-Eyed Junco (Junco Hyemalis)

Inferring performance in the songs of dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis)

Within bird species, songs differ in their attractiveness to females or effectiveness in male–male interactions. Some songs are more difficult to sing than others, and receivers may use a singer’s performance of difficult songs as a means for evaluating the quality of the singer. The concept of song performance aims at quantifying how physiologically demanding are different songs. Using variati...