Dark-eyed Junco Solstice Canyon coastal Southern California -096
"If you're walking in the woods, you're probably going to get more annoyed by a loud, screeching bird call than a soft, complex birdsong. But dark-eyed juncos are just the opposite. These birds will find and fight their soft-singing peers.
Now, lest we think of dark-eyed juncos as simply the philistines of the animal kingdom who go about brawling with any bird that inject a little creativity into its birdsong - which, I'll admit, is a most entertaining thought - there's a more straightforward logic at play here. As with most things, it's all about mating and reproduction.
Males juncos will let out a loud, boisterous call when they're asserting their territory, but they'll favor a softer, more melodic song when they're trying to attract a mate. Researchers at Indiana University found that, when they played these two different songs for some male juncos, the birds completely ignored the loud song but actively searched for whoever was making the softer call.
In the wild, any male junco that goes hunting for the fellow junco behind that song is basically looking for a fight. It appears the birds are far more interested in maintaining their access to potential mates than they are protecting their territorial claims. They may not be philistines, then, but it does appear the juncos care far more about sex than land...which I suppose, as these things go, it's a fairly sensible decision."
Alasdair Wilkins
gizmoto.com
Dark-eyed Junco Solstice Canyon coastal Southern California -096
"If you're walking in the woods, you're probably going to get more annoyed by a loud, screeching bird call than a soft, complex birdsong. But dark-eyed juncos are just the opposite. These birds will find and fight their soft-singing peers.
Now, lest we think of dark-eyed juncos as simply the philistines of the animal kingdom who go about brawling with any bird that inject a little creativity into its birdsong - which, I'll admit, is a most entertaining thought - there's a more straightforward logic at play here. As with most things, it's all about mating and reproduction.
Males juncos will let out a loud, boisterous call when they're asserting their territory, but they'll favor a softer, more melodic song when they're trying to attract a mate. Researchers at Indiana University found that, when they played these two different songs for some male juncos, the birds completely ignored the loud song but actively searched for whoever was making the softer call.
In the wild, any male junco that goes hunting for the fellow junco behind that song is basically looking for a fight. It appears the birds are far more interested in maintaining their access to potential mates than they are protecting their territorial claims. They may not be philistines, then, but it does appear the juncos care far more about sex than land...which I suppose, as these things go, it's a fairly sensible decision."
Alasdair Wilkins
gizmoto.com