Cultural Evolution of White-Throated Sparrow Song / Curr. Biol., July 2, 2020 (Vol. 30, Issue 16)

Using songs of nearly 1,800 males recorded between 2000 and 2019, Otter et al. show the progressive adoption of one song variant (doublet-ending song) by males starting in western Canada and sweeping over 3,000 km eastward to replace the traditional triplet-ending songs. Tracking migrating males using geolocators, Otter et al. found that males from different dialect regions overwinter in the same areas; this suggests that males may learn novel songs from tutors on wintering grounds and spread these to new areas.
Check out the paper at www.cell.com/current-biology/f....
K.A. Otter, A. Mckenna, S.E. LaZerte, and S.M. Ramsay (2020). Continent-wide Shifts in Song Dialects of White- Throated Sparrows. Curr. Biol. 30.
And read more great research at www.cell.com/current-biology/home.

[@LeeB5]

Am in Central Arkansas, and have both in my yard the past month. So sweet to hear💕

[@angeladunne6761]

I live in south Pennsylvania and have one that has been doing a triplet followed by a doublet in my backyard every morning. When put together, it's like a beautiful song! Which caused me to search the internet for the last half hour to find out what it was. Glad I found this!

[@elysianclouds4751]

a bird in my area is singing both tunes but without all the notes at the end. the pattern goes “daaaaa daaaa da da da-da da” if that makes sense lol

[@cathyedwards2844]

The doublet ending songs are right here in Hudson Valley New York! I have been waking up to this song for ten years.

[@goodlifegreenscapesbrecken5928]

I heard the coolest sparrow song this evening in Breckenridge, CO - over near the ice arena! I'll share a recording soon - I love our local sparrows' rendition of their old tune!

[@drewlch4947]

So I’m on Winchester, Virginia and my fiancée and I heard the doublet ending song and both thought it was a really strange bird call, (I know nothing about bird calls btw,) so I’ve spent the last two hours trying to figure out what bird this is and this video FINALLY told me what it was! I even tried whistling it into the Merlin ID ap (that I downloaded just to figure this out.) and it didn’t work. Thank you! Also pretty cool that we heard some kinda new variant to their song.

[@enricogas74]

I heard birds singing the Nokia ringtone in the early 2000!!!?

[@mT_514]

I swear I've heard these birds sing Old Man by Neil Young... Incredible

[@ericjsmoczynski4374]

Heard the doublet call in Isle Royale Nat’l Park all day long, for several days, July 2021. 😉

[@micahroberts3564]

I remember hearing the doublet ending around Fort St John, Northern BC as early as 1995

[@lordylordy886]

Just a little info from my mom at the age of 94..the original lyric is...Where are you ...frederick frederick frederick...originaly from Quebec...we always find it very interesting that over time people like to change things...disheartening but true.

[@spartan7199]

So that explains why in Texas those sparrows don't complete their entire whistle tune. Guess I have to go north to hear them sing their fully cheerful ones.

[@jeremiahyoung5931]

Wow I noticed the difference when I moved from NFLD to ON in the early 2000s. I just thought it was just a different sparrow in ON I was hearing, and wondered why I never heard the traditional song ive heard growing up Thanks for posting this.

[@palmsofdestin1]

It's the one you're featuring that: 52. That's been going on in Kentucky ever since I can remember.
Don't know the exact notes but it follows a c, b , g on the doublet part

[@AJKPenguin]

Doublets can be heard in Southwest Ohio. In fact, I heard them today in my front yard.
I first heard them here about 15 years ago. You definitely can hear these birds in Boundary Waters & Quetico.

[@palmsofdestin1]

Actually the doublet ending song with the chromatic halftone beginning was going on in Kentucky way back in early '70s....

[@taralea5697]

I hear the doublet ending in central Arkansas

[@heh3810]

I hear the doublet ending in Manitoba

[@birdworldist]

So cool

[@lisaaddress]

Doublet ending here in south eastern Pennsylvania.

[@9275633]

Hey, birds get bored too! Time for a little culture shift.

[@chrisallaire9499]

Is it possible that immatures have songs which differ from the adults because they are still in development ? We have a white throated in our backyard, near Montreal Canada, with a very peculiar song. I have recorded it on my phone.

[@idalygonzalez3954]

0:14 does that one sound familiar?

[@--SHEPHERD-OF-MOTHER-EARTH--]

Ö Canada!

[@LeeB5]

Am in Central Arkansas, and have both in my yard the past month. So sweet to hear💕