Aussie honeyeaters in the Blue Mountains are singing a whole new song

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-10-16 10:01

Australia; NSW; ACT

Jss367, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Wild regent honeyeaters living in the Blue Mountains have changed their tunes since 2020, with more than half the birds now singing a shortened version of their normal song, according to researchers from the Australian National University. Between 2015 and 2019, most males in the Blue Mountains sang a typical regent honeyeater song, but around 5-10% sang an abbreviated version of the song with around half the number of syllables. The birds singing the shortened song were also generally less successful in the mating game during this period. However, since 2020, the proportion of males singing the clipped Blue Mountains song has increased to 50-75% each year, and the mating success of these birds has also increased as the simpler songs became the cultural norm.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Frequency-dependant shifts in song-preference may decrease fitness costs associated with reduced bird song complexity

Royal Society Open Science

we report a dramatic shift in the dominant song type of critically endangered wild regent honeyeaters Anthochaera phrygia. Between 2015 and 2019, most males in the Blue Mountains sang a typical regent honeyeater song, but 5-10% sang an abbreviated version of the song with half the number of syllables, which was associated with lower pairing success. Since 2020, the proportion of males singing the Clipped Blue Mountains song has increased to 50-75% each year. The likelihood of successful pairing in these males showed a significant concomitant increase, suggesting that the fitness costs associated with the abbreviated song decreased as it became the dominant song type

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conference: Royal Society Open Science

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The Australian National University

Funder: D.A received funding from Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment and the Cumberland Bird Observers Club.

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