1. Morphology of Voice
Brackenbury 1982 and Gill 2005

2. Syrinx
Gill 2005

3. Syrinx of Suboscine and Oscine
Gill 2005 and Wallace and Mahan 1975

4. Complex Neural Circuits Involved in Song Learning
(Butler and Cotterill 2006)
Complex Neural Circuits Involved in Song Learning
NOT IN SUBOSCINES
(Beecher and Brenowitz 2005)
(Reiner et al. 2005)

5. Learning Calls
Songbirds, parrots, hummingbirds, cetacians, bats, and humans learn vocalizations
Avian forebrain has song learning centers (previous slide)
Midbrain may be center of call production (in all birds)
Centers of fear and arousal (nucleus mesencephali lateralis pars dorsalis) may be coordinated with centers of call production (nucleus intercollicularis)
Kaplan 2008

6. Australian Magpie Alarm Calls
Complexity of alarm calls in a songbird suggests that learning is involved and forebrain learning centers are recruited, so that the function of various calls can be learned
Alarm calls in other non-songbirds may be simple product of midbrain stimulation (no thinking needed)

7. Imitation and Deceit Fork-tailed Drongo in Africa
51 alarm calls of OTHER species, including birds and mammals
Use them to steal food from those species—23% of diet obtained in this way
Overcome problem of crying wolf by varying calls
Flower et al Science 344:

10. Song Sparrow development and learning
Song Learning
Song repertoire
crystallizes
Disperse
Float or
semi-territorial
Hatch
Float
Territorial
Late
Summer
Fall
Early
Winter
subsong
Spring
Spring
plastic song
(better)

11. Copying and Innovation
Beecher and Brenowitz 2005

12. Diversity of song learning programs/strategies in songbirds
1. When song is learned
natal summer
throughout
1st year
lifetime
2. How many songs bird learns
single song
small to mod
rep size
> 100 songs
3. Need song tutoring?
song abnormal
w/o
song normal
4. Copying fidelity
imitation
(faithful
copying)
improvisation
(using tutor
material)
invention
(require song tutoring?)
5. Degree of canalization
rejection of heterospecific material
tendency to copy almost anything (mimicry)
Song sparrow
Beecher & Brenowitz TREE 2005

13. Marler and Peters 1982

14. Duetting
Farabaugh 1982

15. Individual Recognition
Marzluff 1988

16. Motivation of Caller
Morton 1982

17. Full Circle Birds sing differently in urban environments
Louder, higher pitched, shorter duration
Possible effects
Cost more to sing loud and high
High pitch doesn’t carry as far
Females or intruders may not respond
Higher pitch suggests less motivation to fight (as per ms rules on earlier slide)
(Slabbekoorn et al. 2007; Patricelli and Blickley 2006)

18. Literature Cited
Beecher, M. D. and E. A. Brenowitz Functional aspects of song learning in songbirds. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20:
Brackenbury, J. H The structural basis of voice production and its relationship to sound characteristics. Pp in: Kroodsma, D. E. and E. H. Miller, eds. Acoustic communication in birds, Vol 1. Academic Press.New York.
Farabaugh, S. M The ecological and social significance of duetting. Pp in: Kroodsma, D. E. and E. H. Miller, eds. Acoustic communication in birds, Vol 2. Academic Press.New York.
Hansen, A. J., R. L. Knight, J. M. Marzluff, S.Powell, K. Brown, P. Hernandez, and K. Jones Effects of exurban development on biodiversity: patterns, mechanisms, research needs. Ecological Applications. 15:
Kaplan, G Alarm calls and referntiality in Australian magpies: between midbrain and forebrain, can a case be made for complex cognition? Brain Research Bulletin 76:
Marler, P. R. and S. Peters Subsong and plastic song: their role in the vocal learning process. Pp in: Kroodsma, D. E. and E. H. Miller, eds. Acoustic communication in birds, Vol 2. Academic Press.New York.
Marzluff, J. M Vocal recognition of mates by breeding pinyon jays. Animal Behaviour 36:
Marzluff, J.M Island biogeography for an urbanizing world: how extinction and colonization may determine biological diversity in human-dominated landscapes. Urban Ecosystems 8:
Morton, E. S Grading, discreteness, redundancy, and motivation-structural rules. Pp in: Kroodsma, D. E. and E. H. Miller, eds. Acoustic communication in birds, Vol 1. Academic Press.New York.
Patricelli, G. L. and J. L Bickley Avian communication in urban noise: causes and consequences of vocal adjustment. Auk 123:
Slabbekoorn, H. Yeh, P., and K .Hunt Sound transmission and song divergence: a comparison of urban and forest acoustics. Condor 109:67-78.
Wallace, G. J. and H. D. Mahan An introduction to ornithology, 3rd edition. Macmillan Publishing Co. New York.