Invasive parasites in the Galápagos Islands may leave some Darwin’s tree finches singing the blues. The nonnative Philornis downsi fly infests the birds’ nests and lays its eggs there. Fly larvae ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Sophisticated birdsong follows strict grammatical rules, much like human sentences. But what happens when birds can’t hear themselves sing? A new international study of ...

Galápagos finches use their beaks to crush seeds and sing songs, so what happens to their musical trills when their beaks change to respond to new menus available under drought? Jeffrey Podos and ...

Male zebra finches learn their song by imitating conspecifics. To stand out in the crowd, each male develops its own unique song. Because of this individual-specific song, it was long assumed that ...

Certain songbirds have a pretty human-sounding way of learning their special tunes: They listen to their fathers. Scientists have known that zebra finches -- one of the most oft-studied songbirds -- ...

If you’ve ever been jolted awake by a noisy flock of birds at dawn, you’re not alone in wondering what all the fuss is about. Every morning, before the sun is fully up and long before most people are ...

Complex learning processes like speaking or singing follow similar patterns. Using the example of zebra finches, researchers have investigated how young birds imitate the courtship songs of their ...

June 4 (UPI) --Most studies of songbird singing has focused on the neurological pathways involved in the learning and performance of their intricate songs, but new research has offered unique insights ...