Song structure variability in passerine birds: Random variation or direct informative changes

Abstract

The variability of the fine song structure was studied in the wood warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), willow warbler (Ph. trochilus), greenish warbler (Ph. throchiloides viridanus), chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), and gray shrike thrush (Colluricincla harmonica). The increase in the number of similar elements per phrase is shown to be related to the conspecific and heterospecific male-male song interactions in these birds. The responses of wood warbler males to playback conspecific songs with standard and prolonged (in the number of similar elements) second phrases differ significantly. The initial phrases of willow warbler songs become significantly longer in the populations with a high density as compared to those in populations of low density. The increase in the variability of both phrase combinations and song duration is shown to be related also to the song interaction with conspecific males for the willow warbler, greenish warbler, chaffinch, and gray shrike thrush. The within-song type variations turned out to play an important role during male-male interactions of different species. The results obtained suggest that similar ways of song responses may be quite widespread among passerine birds and reflect the general principles of changes in the song structure during acoustic interactions.