The role of introductory alarm calls for song discrimination in Ficedula flycatchers

Bliard, Louis; Qvarnström, Anna; Wheatcroft, David

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.05.018

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…With respect to the mechanism that could explain the response of cowbird nestlings to the chatter call, one possibility is that cowbird chicks have an auditory predisposition for the conspecific chatter call. This perceptual preference or innate sensory bias could develop in young animals without the need of a previous experience with the stimulus (Bolhuis, 1991) and would lead to a preference for conspecific songs (Bliard et al, 2021). Alternatively, the response to the chatter call could be based on a recognition process known as self-referent phenotype matching (Sherman, 1991;.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, Shizuka (2014) found that nestlings of the golden-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla) produce more vocal responses to conspecific than to playback songs of the heterospecific white-crowned sparrow (Z. leucophrys). Moreover, Bliard et al (2021) found that nestlings of collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) discriminate song based on conspecific alarm calls. They manipulated song phrases starting with the conspecific alarm call followed by either conspecific or heterospecific song notes and found that nestlings responded similarly to both treatments due to the inclusion of the call.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Preferential Begging Responses of Shiny Cowbirds to the Conspecific Chatter Call

2022

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Avian brood parasites lay their eggs into the nests of other species, which incubate them and raise the chicks until their independence. Despite living their early weeks of life surrounded by heterospecifics, young brood parasites have the ability to recognize and associate to conspecifics after independence. It has been proposed that the initial conspecific recognition develops when a young parasite encounters a unique species-specific signal that triggers the learning of other aspects of the producer of the signal. For cowbirds (Molothrus spp.), this species-specific signal is hypothesized to be the chatter call. Young birds also could express auditory biases, which in some cases lead to discrimination in favor of conspecific songs. Therefore, the perceptual selectivity for chatters might be also present in nestlings. Our aim was to assess if nestlings of the shiny cowbird (M. bonariensis) present a preferential begging response to conspecific chatter calls. We evaluated if they respond more to the parasitic vocalization than host chicks and if they respond more to the chatter than to heterospecific nonhost calls. We tested shiny cowbird chicks reared by chalk-browed mockingbirds (Mimus saturninus) or house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) and host chicks, as control species. We randomly presented to 6-day-old chicks the following playback treatments: (1) conspecific chatter calls, (2) host calls, used as positive controls, and (3) nonhost calls, used as negative control. We measured if chicks begged during the playback treatments and the begging intensity. When responding to the playback of chatter calls, shiny cowbird chicks begged at a higher frequency and more intensively than host chicks. Shiny cowbird chicks reared by mockingbirds begged more intensively to playbacks of conspecific chatter calls than to host calls, while those reared by wrens begged with a similar intensity to playbacks of conspecific chatter and host calls. On the contrary, wren nestlings begged more intensively to playbacks of the wren call than to chatter calls. Mockingbird nestlings did not beg during any treatment. None of the three species begged during the playback of nonhost calls. Our results show that the chatter call produced a preferential begging response in cowbird nestlings, which may be the beginning of a process of conspecific recognition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%