Song Neighborhoods

BirdNote^®

Song Neighborhoods

Written by Conor Gearin

This is BirdNote. 

[Song Sparrow song]

Many bird species have a distinctive song.

[Different Song Sparrow song]

But not every individual in the species sings exactly the same way. Usually there are some features in common – certain patterns and phrases – but birds put their own spin on their species’ theme tune. 

What’s more, birds that live near each other sometimes have similar songs. 

[Song Sparrow song]

If you visit one field with a few Song Sparrows, they often sound more like each other than a group of Song Sparrows living a few miles away. 

[Song Sparrow song]

Scientists refer to this pattern as a song neighborhood. It’s less like a regional dialect among people that’s found over a large area. It’s more local than that, like a group of friends copying each other's mannerisms. 

[Song Sparrow song]

There may be advantages to birds copying their neighbors’ way of singing. Researchers found that in Song Sparrow populations where birds had similar songs, birds were more likely to survive and hold onto their breeding territories. 

In other words, if one song is a hit during the breeding season, these sparrows keep singing it. 

[Song Sparrow song]

For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.

Today's show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.

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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Song Sparrow ML84733, ML94425, ML94440 and ML94448 recorded by Wil Hershberger.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote July 2023
Narrator: Ariana Remmel

ID# song-20-2023-07-19    song-20

Reference:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2053716623000221
https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v102n02/p0355-…