News tagged with sparrow
For monogamous sparrows, it doesn't pay to stray (but they do it anyway)
It's quite common for a female song sparrow to stray from her breeding partner and mate with the male next door, but a new study shows that sleeping around can be costly.
May 22, 2012 |
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Scientists learn much about humans from birds' singing lessons
Why wasn't this intruder getting the message? The lord of the manor had warned him repeatedly to back off, with threatening gestures and loud admonitions. But the trespasser just sat there - singing.
May 18, 2012 |
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New technology tracks sparrow migration for first time from California to Alaska
Using tiny tags to track a bird's location, biologists from PRBO Conservation Science (PRBO) have unlocked the mystery of where Golden-crowned Sparrows, which overwinter in California, go to breed in the spring. Published ...
Apr 11, 2012 |
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Sparrows change their tune to be heard in noisy cities
Sparrows in San Francisco's Presidio district changed their tune to soar above the increasing cacophony of car horns and engine rumbles, details new George Mason University research in the April edition of ...
Apr 02, 2012 |
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Birds sing louder amidst the noise and structures of the urban jungle
Sparrows, blackbirds and the great tit are all birds known to sing at a higher pitch (frequency) in urban environments. It was previously believed that these birds sang at higher frequencies in order to escape the lower frequencies ...
Feb 22, 2012 |
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Scared of a younger rival? Not for some male songbirds
When mature male white-crowned sparrows duel to win a mate or a nesting territory, a young bird just doesn't get much respect.
Feb 08, 2012 |
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Elaborate plumage due to testosterone?
(PhysOrg.com) -- In many bird species males have a more elaborate plumage than females. This elaborate plumage is often used to signal body condition, to intimidate rivals or to attract potential mates. In ...
Oct 21, 2011 |
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Bird song-sharing like verbal sparring
While singing the same songs as your neighbours may sound harmonious, research conducted at Queen's University Biological Station (QUBS) suggests that song-sharing amongst song sparrow populations is actually ...
Aug 10, 2011 |
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It's no sweat for salt marsh sparrows to beat the heat if they have a larger bill
Birds use their bills largely to forage and eat, and these behaviors strongly influence the shape and size of a bird's bill. But the bill can play an important role in regulating the bird's body temperature ...
Jul 20, 2011 |
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Brainy lizards pass test for birds
Tropical lizards may be slow. But they aren't dumb. They can do problem-solving tasks just as well as birds and mammals, a new study shows.
Jul 13, 2011 |
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Birdsong independent of brain size
(PhysOrg.com) -- The brains of all vertebrates display gender-related differences. In songbirds, for example, the size of the brain areas that control their singing behaviour could be linked to the size of ...
Jun 13, 2011 |
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Parents' social problems affect their children -- even in birds
A recent study performed by Floriane Guibert and Cecilia Houdelier at the CNRS-University of Rennes in France, together with researchers at the INRA in Nouzilly, France and with Austrian scientists including Erich Mostl of ...
Dec 27, 2010 |
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Ugly Betty forced to aim for Average Joe
Less-pretty female house sparrows tend to lower their aim when selecting a mate. Addressing the lack of studies on condition-dependency of female mate choice, researchers writing in the open access journal ...
Aug 26, 2010 |
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Migrating birds can't control themselves
During the Spring and Fall migratory seasons, sparrows become significantly less capable of resisting temptation. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience investigated impulse control and sleep in Whi ...
Jul 28, 2010 |
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Status symbols of house sparrows: High testosterone darkens their bill
(PhysOrg.com) -- The size of the black breast bib - the badge - and bill colour of male House Sparrows change over the course of the year. Such ornaments usually signal quality and dominance of a male to his ...
Jun 04, 2010 |
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