Bird Song Study

Miscellaneous Other Topics.
Apoclima
Senior Lexiterian
Posts: 555
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:00 pm

Bird Song Study

Postby Apoclima » Sat Jun 18, 2005 11:45 pm

I saw this a long time ago on some PBS science show (Nova?).

I thought that some of you would be interested:

Marler's work on the development of bird song

Apo
'Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination.' -Max Planck

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Postby Slava » Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:50 pm

Not surprising, as it's quite old, but the link is dead, so don't bother.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

sluggo
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

Postby sluggo » Mon Feb 01, 2010 1:48 pm

I'm into birds and their speech, so I looked it up (original article, presumably, is now here)

It was a source of fascination long ago to learn that a bird in New England will carry its song with a different regional dialect than the same bird in the Carolinas, or one in the deep South.

This abstractof the same article contains several interesting side articles that reference it.

From the same search, for the interested:
This book looks wonderful, if pricey.

More:

From birdsong to speech: a plea for comparative approaches in Bird Song Learning

The Role of Social Interaction in Bird Song Learning

And a personal favorite:
Development and Use of Two Song Forms by the Eastern Phoebe

(possibly the most beauteous sound in nature: "FEE-be! FEE-be!")

Spring's a-comin', good time to bone up on birdbrain linguistics.

Now feeding: Carolina chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and the occasional red-cockaded woodpecker :o
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Postby LukeJavan8 » Mon Feb 01, 2010 5:21 pm

I've printed these articles to peruse later. I don't know
a lot about 'language' in bird song. All I do know is that
the more "dee's" in a chicadee 'whistle' means the more
serious the danger. When my dog is out around the
birdfeeders, the Chicadees go nuts. I am certain there
is other 'language' as well.

I am in a 'winter count' for birds in our area for
Cornell University. I find it fascinating.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

sluggo
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

Postby sluggo » Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:02 pm

Very cool -- Cornell has one of the best online libraries of bird sounds. They've done their homework over the years :)
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

skinem
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1197
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 4:33 pm
Location: Middle Tennessee

Postby skinem » Tue Feb 02, 2010 10:27 am

Very cool -- Cornell has one of the best online libraries of bird sounds. They've done their homework over the years :)
Ach, as usual, Sluggo beat me to it...great link.

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Postby LukeJavan8 » Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:28 pm

This "bird song" site from Cornell is one of the first
I have found on my own that I did not have to
bookmark from you guys. Climbing the ladder
on my own: up to rung one.

I count the birds, and in my area of the frozen wastes
had not a clue so many birds 'overwintered' here
until I began with Cornell. Thought most were just
various forms of sparrows, but was I proven wrong!
It is a lot of fun. See a red tail hawk in one of my
trees right now.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

sluggo
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

Postby sluggo » Tue Feb 02, 2010 2:56 pm

During the summer I was up late in my kitchen surfing YouTube tangents and came across some British kids doing their version of a comedy sketch, dropping into laughter and so on... Then out of nowhere a barred owl alighted (alit?) right outside my window and called inside, apparently hearing the kids' laughter as a potential mate or rival. :o
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Postby LukeJavan8 » Tue Feb 02, 2010 3:07 pm

What a totally magnificent bird.
(When playing it, the second time, my dog began looking
all over the house for "when came that sound".)
Thanks for posting it.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


Return to “Res Diversae”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests