Abstract
Studies of the acoustic structure of song in young birds have proven valuable at helping us understand song development, but nearly all existing studies have been performed on non-mimicking songbirds. We conducted a cross-sectional field study of song development in a prominent vocal mimic, the northern mockingbird, by comparing the fall songs of hatch-year vs. after-hatch-year birds. Although sample sizes of hatch-year birds were small, the data suggest a developmental trajectory in which both song stereotypy and the frequency of vocal mimicry increase with age. Thus, the acoustic structure of fall song may provide a reliable indicator of a bird’s age and performance.
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