Video Shows Birds Having an Argument
When dad returns late to the nest to take over kid duties, mother finch lets him have it.
In a video first, researchers have captured footage of a bird couple arguing over parental duties.
While there are any number of videos showing animals appearing to squabble over many issues, this is the first time that researchers have evidence it is an actual vocal exchange leading to an agreement.
Perceived lack of fairness appears to be at the root of most arguments, including bird tiffs, apparently. The recorded bickering birds were a pair of zebra finches that were both spending much of their time taking care of their eggs and chicks.
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"In species with bi-parental care, individuals adjust their workload to that of their partner to either compensate or match its investment. Communication within a pair might be crucial for achieving this adjustment," Ingrid Boucaud of the Université de Lyon/Saint-Etienne and her colleagues wrote in a paper published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Zebra finch parents follow a routine. Whenever one leaves their duties at the nest to hunt, forage or do other things, the two birds engage in a "structured call duet." No one yet knows what the birds are communicating to each other, but this vocal exchange tends to follow a certain predictable pattern.
Boucaud and her team disrupted the shared parenting by capturing males while they were foraging and keeping them away from the nest for an extra hour. In the meantime, the females sat at their respective nests, and waited.
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When they released the males and they returned to their nests, the females appeared to really let the males have it. What was usually a slow and regularly patterned vocalization became more anguished sounding and fast paced. The videotaped female zebra finch also pecked her partner's head a few times.
He, in turn, fired back with his own vocalizations, with the two communicating with each other far more rapidly than usual.
The researchers report that the rapid vocal exchanges "were associated with an increased haste of the partners to take turns incubating and foraging. Females also spent less time incubating during their subsequent shift."
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Furthermore, the length of the "arguments" seemed to predict what happened next. If the late-arriving male called just a couple of times, the females would take a lengthier (up to an hour) foraging nest break. If the vocal exchanges involved more calls, she would return to the nest in less than thirty minutes.
"Taken together," Boucaud and her team wrote, "these results suggest that acoustic communication may play a role in the negotiation of parental care between breeding partners."
While it's important not to anthropomorphize the behavior of birds or any other non-human, it does appear that heated verbal exchanges evolved, at least in part among humans and certain birds, to facilitate compromise and agreements over important matters, like parental care.
A zebra finch pair.
Some birds have a flair for the funky when it comes to selecting where to build their nests, finds the
at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Now that spring nesting season is underway, don't be surprised if you find a nest in old boots left outside, on top of traffic signals, in gutters and downspouts and at many other surprising locations. This osprey, for example, unintentionally gave the female figure depicted by the statue a "hat." Underway right now is Cornell's "Funky Nests in Funky Places" contest, where entrants can submit photos, videos and more documenting oddly placed nests. "Many people, particularly those living in cities, are not aware of all the wild birds living in in their neighborhoods, believing they would only be found in faraway places," Cornell's Marta del Campo told Discovery News. The challenge, held every spring since 2009, was created to encourage people to discover the kinds of birds living and nesting in their neighborhoods, del Campo explained.
A ladder serves as an avian "condo," since multiple American robins decided to build their nest on it. Del Campo said that American robins, along with mourning doves, house sparrows and certain hummingbird species, commonly build their nests in unexpected urban locations.
Hopefully the owner of this truck in Pennsylvania did not go for a drive for a while! Presumably, the truck had been stationary for quite some time, catching the eye of an industrious American robin seeking a sheltered space. If you find a nest, del Campo and her team urge that you leave it undisturbed. "Even if a nest has been built in a somewhat inconvenient place (for you), be patient," she said. "In a few weeks the birds will be gone. Meanwhile, you get a front-row seat to a wonder of nature. Do not provide food or get too close to the nest because this can attract predators and stress the bird, which might then abandon the nest."
Using spider web to affix its nest to a single bulb in a strand of holiday lights, this tiny Anna's hummingbird successfully hatched two chicks last year.
A goose figurine became home sweet home to a real live bird, a common moorhen. "When birds are looking for a place to nest, they seek specific qualities, depending on the species," del Campo said. "For example, some bird species, such as woodpeckers and chickadees, look for cavities, while hawks like to build on flat surfaces in high places, such as window ledges on tall buildings that must seem like natural cliffs to them." As for the common moorhen, it must have liked its "room" with a view, not to mention the protection provided by the island-like figurine.
The owner of these motorcycle helmets must have been surprised when he found birds nesting in them. "Even in urban areas, we're a lot closer to birds than you might think," Celebrate Urban Birds project leader Karen Purcell said. "This contest is a lot of fun, but it's also about really being aware of what's around you and taking the time to appreciate birds and all of nature."
Neighbors passing by must have given this wreath with an apparent mourning dove "decoration" a second look when the bird actually moved. The dove may have been attracted by the natural materials of the wreath and decided to move in.
Perhaps the nursery rhyme about Old Mother Hubbard was inspired by a sight like this: a Carolina wren's nest in a golf shoe. "All birds are looking for a place where they can be safe from predators and where food and water are handy," del Campo said. "When you look at it that way, some of the 'weird' locations actually make some sense. A bird nesting in an old shoe in your garage will be protected from bad weather and out of view of predators."
By the size of this nest, Big Bird himself could have moved in. Del Campo and Purcell said that BBQ grills actually are fairly common as bird nesting spots. Around houses, birds might also construct their nests in potted plants, on and in light fixtures, on shrubs, atop balconies, under eaves, on doorsills and windowsills.
An American robin selected this urinal in Texas for its nest site. It appears to have been a good decision, based on the many healthy-looking chicks seen in this photo. This location might make Cornell's evolving "funkiest of the funky" list. As of now, the list also includes a great horned owl nest found in a laundry basket on a tree in Toronto, a mourning dove nest on a tombstone in New Orleans, and a European starling nest on retired V1 rockets at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
This house sparrow nesting in a dinosaur's mouth seemingly has come full circle, since birds themselves are dinosaurs. (Scientists sometimes refer to dinos as "non-avian dinosaurs" to keep the two groups distinct.) Entries to the Funky Nests in Funky Places challenge are due by June 15, so there is plenty of time to seek out likely subjects. "We are looking for fun and interesting stories about the surprising nests people find in their neighborhoods," del Campo said, "but we do caution people, again, not to get too close to nests. We don't want any harm to come to the birds." Guidelines are at the