https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Juvenile zebra finches learn songs directly from a tutor—usually their father—through a social interaction that keeps them motivated and on-task. Young birds who simply hear the songs through a speaker, without the tutor's one-on-one instruction, don't learn them nearly as well. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-social-bird-brain.html Plants & Animals Tue, 16 Aug 2022 08:37:03 EDT news579857821 In female songbirds, brain areas responsible for song learning are usually smaller and have fewer neurons compared to males. However, in many species such as the blue-capped cordon bleu, females possess an elaborate song. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen now found in this species pronounced sex differences in the brain already in juvenile birds, where females had up to 50% less neurons in the song control areas. However, this had no effect on the song learning process. Only when adult, females had developed a different song with shorter and simpler strophes than males. https://phys.org/news/2015-11-cordon-bleus-song-independently-sex.html Plants & Animals Wed, 04 Nov 2015 06:07:47 EST news365839657 Nearly one-third of songbird species across North America are experiencing long-term declines. Scientists have spent years researching potential causes for these population declines, focusing on the birds when they have just hatched as well as when they are adults. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found that songbirds are vulnerable to environmental dangers particularly when they are juveniles, shortly after they have left their parents' nests. Frank Thompson, a scientist with the USDA Forest Service and an associate cooperative professor in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), worked with several colleagues to find that the majority of juvenile bird deaths occur in the first three weeks after they leave the nest. https://phys.org/news/2014-05-teenage-songbirds-high-mortality-due.html Plants & Animals Thu, 08 May 2014 12:56:36 EDT news318772578 What's good for adults is not always best for the young, and vice versa. At least that is the case with song sparrows and how they experience the effects of climate change, according to two recent studies by scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Point Blue Conservation Science. https://phys.org/news/2013-08-young-song-sparrows-climate-differently.html Ecology Mon, 12 Aug 2013 13:22:36 EDT news295532540 (PhysOrg.com) -- It may take a village to raise a child, and apparently it takes at least two adult birds to teach a young song sparrow how and what to sing. https://phys.org/news/2009-10-sparrow.html Plants & Animals Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:50:01 EDT news175327244