Scientists identify building blocks behind birdsong diversity

This is fascinating. Scientists crack the code of the language of birds. With a warning for the environment at the end.

Scientists find building blocks of birdsong's 'spectacular diversity.' 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

'A key finding was that the environment the birds evolved in - from tropical forest to temperate landscape - shaped how they "composed" their songs. So birds adapted for tropical forests use different acoustic building blocks, or motifs, to those from temperate regions.' 1/2

"Secrets of birdsongs' 'spectacular diversity' revealed" Fascinating. Simpler song predominates in tropical environments, where birds live in more dense vegetation and biodiverse soundscapes. Complex song is heard more often in temperate zones, where shorter-range communication is the norm. 🧪

BBC coverage of the xeno-cantified Science paper: bbc.com/news/article... #bioacoustics

I had the pleasure to write a commentary in Science about the very comprehensive paper by @quentinbacquele.bsky.social et al. (same issue), on the factors influencing birdsong across the world. Link to my commentary: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/..., originally paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Fascinating article, the beauty of birdsong is linked to "the #environment the birds evolved in", it is important as natural sound connects us to nature and if you destroy their home their song could be lost.

A few months ago, I was listening to a blackbird that was singing loudly close to me. I began to realise that I could recognise sentence structures and intimation, then specific words and phrases that were being repeated. Remarkable, but also unsurprising. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Each song, they say, is made up of combinations of these motifs - three types of trill, three types of whistle, chaotic notes and harmonies." www.bbc.com/news/article... #ornithology #birds

It is said there are only seven stories that all humans tell. Well, the birds have us beat… by one.

"And if a bird in a forest has a specific song, if you destroy the forest, then that song may not be adapted any more to the new environment." - Quentin Bacquelé www.bbc.com/news/article...

The building blocks of birdsong 🎶 "Birdsong is one of the natural world's most sophisticated forms of sound-based communication." "... each song is made up of combinations of these motifs: three types of trill, three types of whistle, chaotic notes and harmonies." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Going for a song isn’t cheep cheep. Eight building blocks from 116,000 songs of 3,000 species of songbird collected by 1,000s of volunteers and analyzed by a French team using AI shows different habitats shape different birdsong. Destroy the habitat, destroy the song. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The delight of early morning, wake-up birdsong is one of the highlights of living rural for me, and his made me want to see and hear the evidence, Also one of the first uses of AI that I grudgingly found agreeable, despite my absolute distrust of it generally. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The caw of a crow is a 'harmonic stack', apparently. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...