Changing Their Tune

July 8, 2020 6:38 PM

Over the course of two decades, white-throated sparrows across western and central Canada have changed one of their songs, replacing a three-note call with a two-note one.

The study.

posted by blue shadows (22 comments total)

I used to try to whistle that birdsong when I was a kid! Nice to finally know what bird it was!
posted by clawsoon at 6:44 PM on July 8, 2020 [2 favorites]

This morning I happened to hear a white-throated sparrow singing for quite a while, and it almost sounded like it was trying to remember its song with the trills at the end seeming a bit tentative and variable. Certainly not the iconic whistle I remember growing up.

I wonder if climate change might be involved, as juveniles which learn their calls during migration might be past the prime learning stage if migration occurs later?
posted by blue shadows at 6:54 PM on July 8, 2020

ornithological conjuction.
posted by clavdivs at 7:18 PM on July 8, 2020

So you’re saying they went from caller to callr. Sparrow 2.0
posted by inflatablekiwi at 7:30 PM on July 8, 2020 [5 favorites]

I blame the millennials.
posted by panama joe at 7:45 PM on July 8, 2020

Always.

See also OK Doofus.
posted by y2karl at 7:54 PM on July 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

Is this the West Coast hip-hop I keep hearing so much about?
posted by clawsoon at 7:55 PM on July 8, 2020 [5 favorites]

Thrush music! Hark!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:06 PM on July 8, 2020

Hey're we're all busy these days. Why use three notes, when only two will do? Efficiency!
posted by SansPoint at 8:10 PM on July 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

This was really interesting to me. In the Deep South—where I guess these guys overwinter—it’s distinctly “poor Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody” (that is, one—two—three & four, five & six, seven eight). It’s a very nostalgic sound for me. I’ve never heard either of these variations, though the new one is closer to the one I recognize.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:10 PM on July 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

Having grown up around Prince George, I particularly enjoyed this post. It's nice to know that Prince George has finally exported something other than lumber and drugs.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:18 PM on July 8, 2020 [5 favorites]

Exactly, Countess Elena. I learned this bird's call staying at my friend's island, in Ontario (Lake Huron). The 'new' version's how I remember it (and I haven't been there since 1995).
posted by Rash at 8:24 PM on July 8, 2020

Ok, now it's stuck in my head that the new song translates to "Hey, babe!", which is just so adorably sleazy.
posted by sexyrobot at 8:39 PM on July 8, 2020

Talk about trending on Twitter.
posted by fairmettle at 10:50 PM on July 8, 2020 [7 favorites]

You can't derange, or rearrange,
your poems again. (But the sparrows can their song.)
posted by verstegan at 12:49 AM on July 9, 2020 [5 favorites]

Changed from "I'm a bird" to "I'm bird"?
posted by JoeXIII007 at 5:18 AM on July 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

I'm birb
posted by Lanark at 6:11 AM on July 9, 2020 [3 favorites]

fairmettle: Talk about trending on Twitter.

boooooooooooooo

booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
posted by clawsoon at 8:27 AM on July 9, 2020 [2 favorites]

There is enormous variation in White-throated Sparrow songs, especially in the spring when the younger adult males practice for the first time. Their brain is pretty plastic in the beginning until the song solidifies in there, so there's some space for improvisation. I heard one last spring that consistently sang the full first two bars of O Sole Mio.
posted by Freyja at 8:36 AM on July 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

Freyja: I heard one last spring that consistently sang the full first two bars of O Sole Mio.

I wonder if the song made the song come true.
posted by clawsoon at 9:40 AM on July 9, 2020

I miss the birds in L.A. that know all the "8 siren pattern" car alarms.
posted by sexyrobot at 9:47 AM on July 9, 2020 [4 favorites]

The new version sounds better.
posted by aniola at 11:18 PM on July 9, 2020