Birds: singing for survival

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As large areas of the world have locked down this year, many of us have become more aware of the birdsong around us. The relative silence has allowed us to listen in. But scientists have known for several years that the birds themselves have been responding to human noise too, by pitching their songs and other calls higher, to be heard over the rumble of our urban life. There are several ways in which birds can adapt how they communicate in the face of environmental pressures, but what are the limits to these adaptations? And what can this tell us about how to maximise conservation efforts in the future? Rory Crawford talks to ornithologists and animal behaviourists studying bird species around the world. He finds out how the advance of technology is helping researchers explore birds’ preferences and behaviours in the wild, and hears how one particular bird changed its song, and the new version rapidly spread across North America – “the most viral tweet of all time”, as it’s been called! Picture: A Robin [Erithacus rubecula], Credit: Gary Chalker/Getty Images

Transcript

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0:39.8	I'm Rory Crawford and I'm a bird conservationist working for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Bird Life International based here in Scotland.
0:44.5	I'm just walking out near my house just now
0:47.9	and it's not the peak time for Bird's song,
0:50.6	but there is still a bit of activity going on.
0:54.0	That's what I'm listening out for.
0:58.0	The COVID lockdown's across the globe have of course forced many of us closer to home,
1:02.0	quiet under streets and skies from the usual
1:04.8	human hustle and bustle. And that's a well-time car to remind us of that hustle and bustle.
1:09.7	But as I'll be finding out in discovery from the BBC, some birds are actively adapting the songs and other sounds they make
1:18.0	often to overcome the noise pollution created by us humans.
1:25.0	Now at this point I was hoping to record a Robin for you
1:30.0	a UK example of a bird that's changed its behavior in reaction to urban noise.
1:35.0	There was just one problem that you might have already picked up on and it was getting heavier.
1:48.0	This is typical Scottish bird watching conditions. Tipping it down with rain. Oh, and the odd playing as well. Love those. So here's what a Robin should sound like.
2:02.8	It's a really light, flutty song,
	...

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