Amazing stuff!
"A study of thousands of hours of flight calls suggests that songbirds may be forming social connections with other species as they migrate, possibly even exchanging information about the journey. ...
Last year, the co-authors found that birds across northeastern North America “buddy up” with other species at stopover sites during migration. Their new findings suggest that social relationships between songbird species are also important during migratory flights. ..."
"Songbirds, such as warblers, thrushes, orioles and sparrows, tend to migrate at night when the air is calmer, cooler and there are fewer predators lurking about. But the songbird flight paths may not be entirely instinctive, according to new research. Evidence from over 18,300 hours of recorded flight calls suggests songbirds may 'talk' to other species as they migrate, forming social connections and, perhaps, exchanging information about the journey. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Migrating songbirds associate socially with other species during nighttime flights
• Associations are stronger among species with similar calls and flight speeds
• Social information could play an underrecognized role in nocturnal bird migration
Summary
An emerging frontier in ecology explores how organisms integrate social information into movement behavior and the extent to which information exchange occurs across species boundaries.
Most migratory landbirds are thought to undertake nocturnal migratory flights independently, guided by endogenous programs and individual experience.
Little research has addressed the potential for social information exchange aloft during nocturnal migration, but social influences that aid navigation, orientation, or survival could be valuable during high-risk migration periods.
We captured audio of >18,000 h of nocturnal bird migration and used deep learning to extract >175,000 in-flight vocalizations of 27 species of North American landbirds. We used vocalizations to test whether migrating birds distribute non-randomly relative to other species in flight, accounting for migration phenology, geography, and other non-social factors.
We found that migrants engaged in distinct associations with an average of 2.7 ± 1.9 SD other species. Social associations were stronger among species with similar wing morphologies and vocalizations. These results suggest that vocal signals maintain in-flight associations that are structured by flight speed and behavior.
For small-bodied and short-lived bird species, transient social associations could play an important role in migratory decision-making by supplementing endogenous or experiential information sources.
This research provides the first quantitative evidence of interspecific social associations during nocturnal bird migration, supporting recent calls to rethink songbird migration with a social lens. Substantial recent declines in bird populations may diminish the frequency and strength of social associations during migration, with currently unknown consequences for populations."
Songbirds socialize on the wing during migration, new study says (original news release)
Social associations across species during nocturnal bird migration (no public access)
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