Bird Song Part 1

Question 1

What are notes/elements?

Answer 1

Simple continuous narrow frequency band signatures

Question 2

Which two structural song stages does the sensorimotor stage encompass?

Answer 2

The subsong and the plastic song

Question 3

What happens in the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 3

Birds have vocal practice

Play out the sensory representation of the learned adult song

Question 4

What type of ‘learners’ are sparrows?

Answer 4

Seasonal closed learners

Question 5

What type of ‘learners’ are zebrafinches?

Answer 5

Age limited learners

Question 6

Which species of bird produces a male-female courtship song which does not vary across regions? What type of song is there lots of geographic variation?

Answer 6

Chestnut-sided warblers.

Male-male song

Question 7

Which birds were studied to examine to effects of geographical isolation on the nature of the bird song?

Answer 7

Singing honeyeaters

Question 8

What was different about the song of the Rottnest Island Singing Honeyeaters, compared to the mainland honeyeaters?

Answer 8

It was more simplistic. The number of new syllables that the birds produce is relatively low compared to the mainland birds.

Question 9

What areas of the brain are involved in the song production circuitry?

Answer 9

Higher vocal centre (HVC).
Robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA).
Tracheosyringeal portion of the hypoglossal nuclei (nxIIts)

Question 10

What areas of the brain are involved in the song learning circuitry (anterior forebrain pathway)?

Answer 10

Area X.
Medial portion of the dorsolateral thalamus (DLM).
Lateral portion of the magnocellular nuclei of the anterior neostriatum (LMAN).

Question 11

What is the subsong?

Answer 11

Rambling sounds that are variable in timing and pattern

Question 12

What happens in the plastic song stage?

Answer 12

Bird assumes species specific posture when singing.
Begin to produce sounds in discrete clusters.
Aspects of the temporal patterning of the song start to resemble that of the adult song

Question 13

What is the crystallised song?

Answer 13

The full song expressed with normal variations in volume, duration and syllabic structure

Question 14

When do seasonal closed learners sing their crystallised song?

Answer 14

Almost a year after hatching

Question 15

In what type of learners do the sensory and sensorimotor stages overlap?

Answer 15

Age limited learners

Question 16

When do age limited learners transition into crystallised song?

Answer 16

90 days after hatching

Question 17

When must the sensory phase occur and end in seasonal closed learners?

Answer 17

Occur in spring and end in summer

Question 18

What’s special about seasonal open ended learners?

Answer 18

They can undergo a second sensorimotor phase in the second year of life so can modify their crystallised song

Question 19

Where has most of the modern understanding of song learning and production come from?

Answer 19

Studies by Thorpe in the 1950s

Question 20

What type of birds did Thorpe use?

Answer 20

Chaffinches

Question 21

What type of song did the isolate birds that were played tutor tapes produce?

Answer 21

An abnormal song - Thorpe called it an ‘isolate song’

Question 22

What type of song did the isolate birds that were given no auditory experience produce? What happened when these birds were played tutor tapes after they reached sexual maturity?

Answer 22

They produced a highly abnormal oversimplified song. When played tutor tapes after sexual maturity they sustained this highly abnormal song (crude template could not be modified by auditory experience after a certain stage of development).

Question 23

What two things do birds need to produce an appropriate species specific song, according to Thorpe?

Answer 23

The appropriate auditory experience early in development, and social interaction with conspecifics.

Question 24

What songbird can inhabit coastal and montane environments in western U.S.A

Answer 24

White-crowned sparrow