Hello and welcome. This is The Science of Birds. I'm your host, Ivan Philipson.

The Science of Birds podcast is a lighthearted, guided exploration of bird biology for lifelong learners.

This is part two of two on bird songs. If you haven't heard

part one, I suggest you check that out first. It's episode five. In part one, we covered how

birds songs are produced, which birds learn their songs, and I described some characteristics

of songs. We talked mostly about the how and the who of bird songs.

We haven't really talked about the why, the purpose of all these vocal sounds.

Birds spend a lot of time in energy singing,

when they might otherwise be foraging for food,

tending to their nests,

or writing the next great American novel. So these

songs must be pretty dang important. They are, of course, and I suspect you already know

what the two main functions of songs are. One, mate attraction, and two, territorial defense.

Males sing to attract females so that they can pass on their genes to the next generation.

Many females also sing, but we know much more about the function of male songs,

so let's focus on males for the moment.

Across numerous studies, it's become clear that females are attracted by the songs of males of their own

species. What exactly are these females queuing in on? It's not always clear. Many birds seem to be

able to discriminate subtleties and details in sound that elude us humans. Although this surely

varies across species, there is evidence that female

attraction can be influenced by the number of songs that a male sings and or his performance

quality. Do these or any other characteristics of a male's song accurately reflect his health,

...