Summary (Oscines):

1. Summary (Oscines): If not, song performance is greatly distorted Bird must have a tutor during the sensitive period Dependent care (2) Birds must practice (sub-, plastic, and ………………………………………… (3) crystallized song) Trimmed, cut, and frozen Maturing Adult Independent Juveniles

2. AUDITORY TEMPLATE MODEL Crude template Day length increases II Own species song heard I Template matched to song heard Gonad size increases Requires Tutor MEMORIZATION PHASE Exact template This is a (brief) window of crystallization Testosterone III Requires hearing yourself Hears own song Song output Song matched to template Forgetting or culling MOTOR PHASE

3. Brown-headed cowbirds Brood parasites HOW DO THEY LEARN THEIR SONGS?

4. Action-based Learning • Eastern and Southern sub-spp • when transplanted chicks raised by the ‘other’ sub-spp they learn that sub-spp songs • males respond to female wing-flicks by repeating songs more when • females respond this way

5. Indirect pathway between HVC and RA – recursive loop Posterior Vocal pathway (production) Anterior Vocal pathway (learning) HVA=Higher vocal center RA=Robust nucleus of the Arcopallium

6. Many of the nuclei have neurons that recognize specific sounds in complex song

9. Summary: • Some neurons are specific to individual syllables (higher firing rate) • Gene induction higher for species-specific songs, and in some case novelty • “ “ for so-called “sexy” songs (canaries) • The feedback loop, singing behavior itself (feedback?) increase neuron production

10. Vocal fighting and vocal flirting Males sing differently to males and females

11. 10 Two studies how that females prospect for males based on song # females caught 5 Pied flycatcher Great reed warbler

12. So what are females looking for in song or singing that indicates a good male?

13. Specific song structures: • Sexy song in canaries (sensory bias or signals precise vocal coordination?) • Potent songs in cowbirds: males punish rivals singing potent songs, thus it • indicates the # fights won and lost (like isolated males) - Swamp sparrows and limits to vocal performance

14. Song frequency (over time): • Song frequency is correlated to males nest defense and feeding the young • (parental care) • WHY? What does it indicate?

15. In pied flycatchers suppl. feeding increases • singing 2-fold) and results in faster pairing • between males and females Number of birds paired first Songs per 5 min

16. Song repertoires: • Females show preferences for males with larger repertoires (song or syllable) Mean # displays Repertoire size

17. Years on territory Song repertoires: • Older birds (open-ended learners) sing more songs • Or song repertoire correlates with survivorship (close-ended learners) Song Sparrow

18. Males with larger repertoires have higher LRS • But it would nice to this in • offspring… Lifetime rep success • And females prefer them Mean # displays Repertoire size

19. Pairing date Genetic offspring survival Repertoire size Mean # displays Repertoire size

20. Male canaries affected with malaria • lower repertoire size • smaller HVC But also in response to nutritional stress in: song sparrows, canaries, and starlings

21. Song familiarity (local song structure): • Female song sparrows prefer the local dialect • over ‘foreign’ dialect • …this sets up a performance index…

22. Many notes; high accuracy Few notes; poor accuracy Intermediate

24. Vocal fighting and vocal flirting Males sing differently to males and females

25. Krebs’ Experiment (1977) • Remove males • Monitor settlement • Yasukawa’s experiment (1981) • Mute males via removing • a portion of the hypoglossal • nerve

26. songs per min Neighbor stranger

27. Songs to advertise territory ownership and aggression to other males – 3 examples • Muted males creates more territory intrusions • Experimental playbacks delays territorial settlement in the absence of males • There is a level of sophistication  males recognize neighbors from strangers • and have different responses relative to their position in space with respect • to territory intrusion

28. #1 Song (Type) Matching Counter singing Marsh Wrens Track 38 (Kroodsma)

29. Repertoire Matching Beecher’s Studies on the song sparrow Bird 3 W V U Bird 2 X Bird 1 O P B I C A F E D T N H J S L K R Q G Bird 4

30. (1) Match song exactly Type Matching (2) Match with another shared song Repertoire Matching (3) Sing a unshared song

31. Neighbors tend to repertoire match • more than expected by chance • Neighbors type-match early and • repertoire match later in the season Song functions to communicate to territory ownership in very sophisticated ways Type Match Repertoire Match Unshared