JUNE 23, 2020
Female great tits (Parus
major) stay clear of territories with better singing males while competing
males are attracted to the territories with better singers. This unexpected
conclusion was reached by researchers of Wageningen University & Research
in collaboration with the Netherlands Instituut for Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). This
conclusion is diametrically opposed to the current assumption that male birds
use their song to impress females and repel males to stay away from their
territory.
Previous research showed
that songbirds often cheat on their partners. One would thus expect male birds
to use their song to lure any close-by females. But nature tells a different story, the research team
discovered.
"Our knowledge to
date on the daily behavior between males and females is largely based on knowledge under lab
condition because it is so difficult to follow a songbird for a long
time," professor Marc Naguib explains. "We know what colors are
prefered by the females, and what songs they prefer if they exhibit an
immediate reaction. But how they show territorial behavior and respond to males
in the open field was hitherto almost unknown."
Dawn song attracts male
competition
Ph.D. researcher Nina
Bircher and her co-authors expected that the most enthusiastic singers would
attract the most female interest. This appeared completely false. The male
great tits with the most extensive repertoire that started singing the earliest
and showed the most persistence attracted fewer females. Male great tits,
however, entered their singing competitor's territory, captivated by the
performance, the researchers write in the scientific journal Behavioral
Ecology.
The reason for this
behavior remains a mystery. Naguib: "Males may enter the competitor's
territory to check out why the competitor is better than they are, or why he
may be more suited to produce offspring." Whatever the reasons, the
discovery sheds new light on the complexity of songbirds social and communication network.
The prevailing assumption
that the female great tit would more frequently enter a different territory
when she is fertile is thus not supported. The premise is she would visit other
territories specifically for extra-pair mating. In reality, however, this
research shows that she enters territories other than her own once she has laid
eggs in an effort to find food for her young.
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