S2 E9: Why do solitary songbirds call when migrating at night?

Welcome back to the Bird Brief, this is Stephanie Jenkins Aslett, avian ecologist. Today let’s dive into songbird migration and how their seemingly solitary nocturnal travel is more cooperative and social than we thought!

Stories:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/migrating-birds-sing-to-team-up-with-other-species/ 

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(24)01701-9 

Bird Sound:

Swainson’s Thrush, nocturnal flight call. Paul Driver, XC771098. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/771098.

Music: The Weeknd from wish by Lundstroem is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lundstroem/songs-i-regard-terrible/the-weeknd-from-wish/ 

Keep an eye out for the next episode in two weeks! I will be talking with an expert in the field about a key tool that helps researchers uncover interactions that might be overlooked in enormous, wildly complex datasets (as this nocturnal flight call dataset was). Spoiler alert, it's my geophysicist husband, Zan Aslett, so get ready to laugh about datasets while learning something. 

Hearing Protection Tips:

Okay, as your birder friend, I want you to hear your birds today, but also in five years. Make sure you have the basics, get some inexpensive foam earplugs at your local drugstore and put them in your bag or car for those random times you are heading to a show and its going to be way too loud. Also grab some earmuffs and have them handy for when you use the blender or mow the lawn.

Here's a few that I like that are inexpensive and won't break the bank:

-Mack’s Ultra Soft Foam Earplugs, 7 Pair + Case – (NRR 33 dB Highest NRR). https://amzn.to/3Xn2xrN .

-3M PELTOR Ear Muffs, X1, (NRR 22) https://amzn.to/41aMcbU. Most comfortable muff in my opinion. Nicely slim for a muff while providing good ear protection. Fantastic to bring to fireworks shows and air shows, so you can take them off to chat with your friends. Bonus -- even comfortable and lightweight enough that your kid will wear them!

-3M PELTOR X3 Earmuffs, (NRR 25-28) https://amzn.to/40XXVZN. Great protection, but can get heavy.

*Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) is the number of decibels that the ear pro can reduce ambient noise levels – NRR 33 is the maximum. I’ve found that NRR 33 is pretty bulky/heavy in muffs so I opt for NRR 22 or NRR 25.

@THE.BIRD.BRIEF