Call of the Liar nautil.us - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nautil.us Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A male (the bright red bird) and female cardinal go a-courtin . Male and female cardinals each have their own separate songs. Gary Carter/Getty Images
Many bird-watchers (and bird-listeners) believe that a singing bird must be a male bird. But that s not true. And that misconception can have a lot of serious consequences. Two ornithologists (scientists who study birds) recently put out a call to action for scientists and laypeople alike to pay more attention to the singing habits of female birds. The paper was published online on March 14, 2018, in the journal The Auk: Ornithological Advances.
Traditionally, female songbirds have been overlooked because more males sing, says the paper s co-author Lauryn Benedict, a University of Northern Colorado biology professor. But the ratio isn t overwhelmingly in favor of males, as it turns out. Worldwide, we think that females sing in about two-thirds of all songbird species, she emails. That s a pretty rough estimate, though, beca
students and postdocs to join the Macaulay Library to pursue questions in
behavioral and evolutionary ecology. Are you interested in animal behavior? The evolution of animal signals? The ecological and evolutionary underpinnings of reproductive strategies? The micro- and macroevolutionary consequences of sexual selection? These questions and others can be answered with the archived media in Macaulay Library and other museum collections, and in some cases by field work on birds and other animals. Please see below if you are interested in these topics and would like to join us. We also encourage students interested in
curatorial work and public education to join us. Scientific research is increasingly dependent on technology to address these questions, so we encourage
Program Manager
Jessie helps lead the Macaulay Library and Merlin Bird ID. She joined the Lab in 2008 as the Assistant Curator of Audio in the Macaulay Library, then went on to lead Merlin, and is now back in the Macaulay Library as the program manager.
Communications Coordinator
Kathi is the Communications Coordinator for the Macaulay Library and loves writing and talking about all things bird. Kathi has traveled throughout the Americas tracking down birds, making eBird checklists, and contributing sounds to the Macaulay Library. Kathi earned her Master’s Degree from The Ohio State University and her Ph.D. in ornithology from the University of Arizona. In her free time, when she is not birding, Kathi enjoys traveling, cooking, and sewing.