I’ve never given much thought to how our urban noise impacts birds, but of course it must. The sounds of our cities are so stressing. How could wildlife not feel it too?
Interesting data, Maja. Lately, I have been thinking of species like European Starlings and House Sparrows here Ottawa Canada. Both seem to have adapted well to urban living and they definitely appear more 'aggressive' (bold?) in a sense. Perhaps a similar effect is taking place on them as a bird species being around so much human activity. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, this is an interesting thought! I also wondered whether increasing urbanization and the associated noise problems lead to long-term changes in the birds' behavior. For example, if urban species such as house sparrows evolve to sing differently (louder and at other frequencies) and use more means of physical communication compared to their ancestors from decades ago. But we probably don't have the long-term data to test this. But would be super interesting to know!
I believe it. That island is so important you’d think they’d do anything and everything to protect the creatures living there.
I’ve never given much thought to how our urban noise impacts birds, but of course it must. The sounds of our cities are so stressing. How could wildlife not feel it too?
Interesting data, Maja. Lately, I have been thinking of species like European Starlings and House Sparrows here Ottawa Canada. Both seem to have adapted well to urban living and they definitely appear more 'aggressive' (bold?) in a sense. Perhaps a similar effect is taking place on them as a bird species being around so much human activity. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, this is an interesting thought! I also wondered whether increasing urbanization and the associated noise problems lead to long-term changes in the birds' behavior. For example, if urban species such as house sparrows evolve to sing differently (louder and at other frequencies) and use more means of physical communication compared to their ancestors from decades ago. But we probably don't have the long-term data to test this. But would be super interesting to know!