Birds that live in bunches work each other up into a reproductive frenzy with their songs, according to research that confirms an old hypothesis. As far back as the 1930s, ornithologists proposed that ...

Like humans who can instantly tell which friend or relative is calling by the timbre of the person's voice, zebra finches have a near-human capacity for language mapping. If songbirds could appear on ...

A study examined the effects of anthropogenic noise on cognition, beak color, and growth in the zebra finch. Researchers first tested adult zebra finches on a battery of cognition assays while they ...

In our quest to find what makes humans unique, we often compare ourselves with our closest relatives: the great apes. But when it comes to understanding the quintessential human capacity for language, ...

Over a decade ago, behavioral ecologist Diane Colombelli-Négrel was wiring superb fairy wrens’ nests to record the birds’ sounds when she noticed something odd. Mother fairy wrens sang while ...

Zebra finches have a more complex way of communicating than previously thought. A new study published in the journal Science found that the sociable songbird does not just recognize and organize ...

When a bird spots a predator and emits an alarm call, do its neighbors think “predator” and then react? Or do they automatically freeze or fly away because that’s what they’re wired to do?