Doug wrote:
"I've been toying with hummingbird vocalizations and find some very
interesting structure - syntax, if you will, in their agonistic chatter.
The more I explore, the more I find that there is at least the
appearance
and possibility of complex, abstract communication/information in many
birds' "chatter". The songs and simple calls we are all familiar with
are
"blunt force" communication - simple, direct, to the point. The real
intimate stuff is in the chatter and subsong, I find."
Out jogging last week I came across a pair of Lark sparrows, one singing
the standard complex song with the exception that it was so faint I
could barely hear it at 10 meters. It was obviously meant only for the
ears of his mate foraging next to him.
As I listen to the house finches in my backyard there is all kinds of
chatter, partial song, and interaction.
I am beginning to think that for many birds the concept of "songs and
calls" is a gross simplification, just as it would be if our
vocalizations were thus described. I think that birds have a
"vocabulary." We have barely touched the threshold of understanding
what bird vocalizations mean.
Kevin Colver
"Everything is always more complicated than we think it is."
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