Birdsong and Creativity: Songbirds Name Their Offspring!

      The vocal learning of songbirds is the subject of much ornithological research. Did you know songbirds name their offspring, who are called by that specific sound all their lives? (I wonder if they have middle names, for when they're in trouble. . .)

      Nearly half of bird species are songbirds. They learn songs from a mentor, like humans, and then practice the melodies.

      The baby songbirds learn "grammar and syntax" from these mentors, who are often, but not always, their parents. The songbirds' use of different tweets (the original, non-140-character kind) is more complex than the signals (or typings) of monkeys. 

       According to this bird-brained article, "New neurons grow in breeding and singing season and then die back to save energy. A signal of the dying cells stimulates the new cells."

       "Songbirds prefer singing in harmonic series similar to humans even though anatomically they could sing many other ways. They choose to sing in a particular key and with consonant intervals, octaves, fifths, and fourths like humans. Songs are used for mating and defending territory."

       The study of birdsong is a delicate balancing act. And the study of bird brains (especially songbirds vs. birds like chickens) compared to humans and monkeys is even more complicated.

       Songbirds have more interconnectedness and feedback loops comparable to the parts of the human brain, especially the striatum. Study of songbird chromosomes adds both to the complexity and understanding.

       Zebra finches are useful in understanding how birdsong phrases are learned and how they can be changed and analyzed.

        Of course, you can just listen and enjoy Birdsong, too. This recording was made at daybreak along the Mississippi River near Birdsong, Arkansas, population 41. Temporarily 42. . .

      Be glad and sing out if someone calls you a Songbird Brain! Tweet about it ;-). 
Steph

     And this goes right here. . .

"Ah" would be better. . .but close enough.