28. Song matching by neighboring western male marsh wrens.
5. More about Song Learning
Song (and call) matching
From page 61 in the book.
Song matching by neighboring western male marsh wrens. Somewhere west of the Great Plains, among western marsh wrens, settle in beside a marsh and focus on the singing of just one male (you can warm up with this recording, almost an hour from one California male: ♫231). What an incredible variety of songs he delivers, each song almost always different from the one before. Careful study would reveal that he eventually repeats himself (as I have illustrated in ♫232), confirming that he has a discrete number of repeatable songs that constitute his large repertoire. Not only does he repeat particular songs, but the song sequences are often the same as well (see ♫233)—-maybe that's one way for him to keep track of all his songs.
Now, as with the corvids, expand your listening to hear how two neighbors interact. With a little time and patience, you will begin to hear the matching. Why and when they choose to match is unknown, and sometimes they match hardly at all. Why not? I wish we knew.
♫231: Nearly an hour of singing from one male. I did my best to hold the parabolic reflector on him, but he at times escaped my aim for a few seconds. Enjoy the "raw" field recording; this is the best that I could do with this male as he flew up and down the drainage ditch beside the road. Enjoy a good, easy listen, but there's so much you could do to search for patterns in this male's behavior. June 10, 2018. Sierra Valley, California (58:16)
♫232: Here's evidence that the male in the previous recording is capable of repeating himself, i.e., that he has a set repertoire of discrete song types that he can recall from memory and sing again. Four examples of one song type are extracted from the nearly hour-long recording (the four renditions of this particular song were found at 2:06, 9:18, 30:30, and 42:51; the song at 13:18 is slightly different). June 10, 2018. Sierra Valley, California. (0:19)
♫233: Not only does a male eventually repeat one of his songs, but the sequences in which he delivers his different songs are often the same as well. Here, I've taken the four examples from ♫232 and included the next two songs as well; careful listening (and sonagram study) reveals that he sings A B C . . . A B C . . . A B D . . . A B D. Song A is always followed by song B, which is followed by either C or D. June 10, 2018. Sierra Valley, California. (0:42)