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Female Birds Sing in the Tropics
In warm climates, many female birds sing to claim their territories
© Arley Vargas
In temperate climates like North America, it’s often male songbirds that sing the most. Typically the males migrate north before females and establish territories for the short breeding season, using their songs as a way to claim a spot. But many female birds do sing, even in colder climates. And in warm tropic zones, female birds often have a big role in defending a territory, and many of them sing just as loudly and artfully as the males.
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BirdNote®
Female Birds Sing in the Tropics
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
In temperate climates like North America, it’s often male songbirds that sing the most. Typically the males migrate north before females and establish territories for the short breeding season, using their songs as a way to claim a spot. But many female birds do sing, even in colder climates – such as this Canyon Wren:
[Female Canyon Wren song]
And in warm tropic zones, it’s a different story. Birds typically stay in the same breeding territory year-round rather than just a few months. That may have helped lead to a different behavior pattern. Females in the tropics can have a big role in defending a territory, and many of them sing, often just as loudly and artfully as the males. Some species even blend male and female song in a complex duet, like these Bay Wrens:
[Bay Wren duet]
And when you look at songbirds as a whole, it’s the pattern in the tropics that’s the rule, not the exception. Both females and males sing in the majority of songbird species — about 64%, according to one study.
Scientists have created the Female Songbird Project to help track female birdsong throughout the world. Learn how you can participate at BirdNote dot org. I’m Ariana Remmel.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
With thanks to science advisor Joanna Wu for this idea
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Canyon Wren ML249867981 recorded by Jay Carroll, and Bay Wren ML57484 recorded by David L. Ross, Jr.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote November 2023
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# femalebirds-02-2023-11-24 femalebirds-02
Reference:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3677718
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2016.00022/full
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/many-female-birds-sing-beautiful-son…
Conor Gearin
Writer
Ariana Remmel
NarratorSights & Sounds
