Parus Minor Research Articles

The Japanese tits evaluate threat level based on the posture of a predator

Previous studies have shown that the threat level posed by a predator can vary with physical features. In this study, we tested whether the wing posture of a raptor could serve as a clue for bird threat assessment. We observed the behavioral response of Japanese tits Parus minor to taxidermy dummies Eurasian sparrowhawks Accipiter nisus with either spread wings and closed wings. The results showed that the response scores to sparrowhawks with spread wings were higher than those to sparrowhawks with closed wings. We suggested that Japanese tits can assess the predation risk associated with changes in wing posture of predators.

Goal-directed bodily signals in birds and frogs.

Researchers have recently described the wing-fluttering signal of Japanese tits and eyeblink signal of concave-eared torrent frogs as bodily communication that elicits specific responses. I assess the evidence that these may be intentional, goal-directed signals using established criteria for gestural communication.

Multi-dimensional niche differentiation of two sympatric breeding secondary cave-nesting birds in Northeast China using DNA metabarcoding.

Niche theory predicts that ecologically similar sympatric species should show differentiation in at least one of the main niche dimensions (time, space, and/or food). Here, we combined observations of breeding timing, nest site selection, and diet (the latter determined using DNA metabarcoding) to analyze the niche overlap and differentiation between two sympatric secondary cavity-nesting birds, the Japanese Tit Parus minor and the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher Ficedula zanthopygia. The results showed that (1) there were significant differences in the first egg laying date, length of the egg laying period, incubation date, and hatching date between tits and flycatchers, and the breeding time of flycatchers peaked later (about 30 days) than that of tits; (2) the two species had a large overlap in nest site selection, although the canopy coverage and shrub density of flycatchers were significantly higher than those of tits; and (3) the niche overlap in diet was minimal, with both species heavily relying on Lepidoptera (39.6% and 63.7% for tits and flycatchers, respectively), but with flycatchers consuming significantly higher percentages of Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera than tits. The results indicate that these two sympatric secondary cavity-nesting species have significant niche differentiation in breeding time and diet, but little differentiation in nest site selection.

Behavioral responses to predator and heterospecific alarm calls are habitat-specific in Eurasian tree sparrows

Acoustic communication plays a vital role in predator-prey interactions. Although habitat structure has been shown to affect anti-predator tactics, little is known about how animals vary their behaviors in response to predator calls or heterospecific alarm calls in different environments. Here we used sound playbacks to test the responses of Eurasian tree sparrows (Passer montanus) foraging in harvested/unharvested rice paddy and open residential area. In the first experiment, we tested their behavioral responses to dove calls, male common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) calls, hawk-like calls mimicked by female common cuckoo, sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) calls, and human yell calls produced to scare birds (predator signal playbacks). In the second experiment, we tested their behavioral responses to the Japanese tit’s (Parus minor) territorial songs and alarm calls (heterospecific alarm signal playbacks). Results showed that the tree sparrows had less fleeing in unharvested ripe rice paddy than in harvested rice paddy and open residential area. In predator signal playbacks, call type affected the escape behavior of sparrows in unharvested rice paddy and open residential area but not harvested rice paddy. In alarm signal playbacks, tit alarm calls evoked more fleeing than territorial songs in harvested rice paddy and open residential area but not unharvested rice paddy. These results suggest that anthropogenic habitat changes may influence avian anti-predator tactics.

Minimal Compositionality versus Bird Implicatures: two theories of ABC-D sequences in Japanese tits.

It was argued in a series of experimental studies that Japanese tits (Parus minor) have an ABC call that has an alert function, a D call that has a recruitment function, and an ABC-D call that is compositionally derived from ABC and D, and has a mobbing function. A key conclusion was that ABC-D differs from the combination of separate utterances of ABC and of D (e.g. as played by distinct but close loudspeakers). While the logic of the argument is arguably sound, no explicit rule has been proposed to derive the meaning of ABC-D from that of its parts. We compare two analyses. One posits a limited instance of semantic compositionality ('Minimal Compositionality'); the other does without compositionality, but uses instead a more sophisticated pragmatics ('Bird Implicatures'). Minimal Compositionality takes the composition of ABC and D to deviate only minimally from what would be found with two independent utterances: ABC means that 'there is something that licenses an alert', D means that 'there is something that licenses recruitment', and ABC-D means that 'there is something that licenses both an alert and recruitment'. By contrast, ABC and D as independent utterances yield something weaker, namely: 'there is something that licenses an alert, and there is something that licenses recruitment', without any 'binding' across the two utterances. The second theory, Bird Implicatures, only requires that ABC-D should be more informative than ABC, and/or than D. It builds on the idea, proposed for several monkey species, that a less-informative call competes with a more informative one (the 'Informativity Principle'): when produced alone, ABC and D trigger an inference that ABC-D is false. We explain how both Minimal Compositionality and Bird Implicatures could have evolved, and we compare the predictions of the two theories. Finally, we extend the discussion to some chimpanzee and meerkat sequences that might raise related theoretical problems.

The ‘after you’ gesture in a bird

Gestures are ubiquitous in human communication, involving movements of body parts produced for a variety of purposes, such as pointing out objects (deictic gestures) or conveying messages (symbolic gestures)1. While displays of body parts have been described in many animals2, their functional similarity to human gestures has primarily been explored in great apes3,4, with little research attention given to other animal groups. To date, only a few studies have provided evidence for deictic gestures in birds and fish5,6,7, but it is unclear whether non-primate animals can employ symbolic gestures, such as waving to mean 'goodbye', which are, in humans, more cognitively demanding than deictic gestures1. Here, we report that the Japanese tit (Parus minor), a socially monogamous bird, uses wing-fluttering to prompt their mated partner to enter the nest first, and that wing-fluttering functions as a symbolic gesture conveying a specific message ('after you'). Our findings encourage further research on animal gestures, which may help in understanding the evolution of complex communication, including language.

Domestic chicken hens can eavesdrop on the alarm calls of wild tits

Eavesdropping on heterospecific alarm calls is common in nature, and successful eavesdropping on heterospecific call information can provide benefits to animal survival. Previous studies have shown that free-ranging flocks of domestic chickens can respond to avian heterospecific alarm calls. However, there are limited studies on whether solitary active domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus), especially hens with chicks eavesdrop on heterospecific alarm calls to detect different types of predators and adjust their response depending on whether the predators are a threat to themselves or their young. In the present study, we evaluated the behavioral responses of hens with chick activity to two alarm calls (test playback) and territorial calls (control playback) of wild Japanese tits (Parus minor). The results showed that hens were more vigilant toward the alarm calls than territorial calls and that anti-predator behavior differed significantly between the two alarm calls as predicted: they engage in self-preservation behaviors when the call informs about aerial predators, and in protective behaviors of their chicks when the calls inform about ground predators. In the later case, the number of chicks also has an impact on the behavior of hens (dilution effect). This suggests that hens can eavesdrop on the alarm call of Japanese tits, identify predator information in the alarm call, and adjust the anti-predation strategy based on the type of alarm and the number of chicks.

Does social information affect the settlement decisions of resident birds in their second breeding attempt? A case study of the Japanese Tit (Parusminor)

Individuals may gather information about environmental conditions when deciding where to breed in order to maximize their lifetime fitness. They can obtain social information by observing conspecifics and heterospecifics with similar ecological needs. Many studies have shown that birds can rely on social information to select their nest sites. The location of active nests and the reproductive success of conspecifics and heterospecifics can provide accurate predictions about the quality of the breeding habitat. Some short-lived species can facultatively reproduce two and/or more times within a breeding season. However, few studies have focused on how multiple-brooding individuals select nest sites for their second breeding attempts. In this study, we use long-term data to test whether the Japanese Tit (Parus minor) can use social information from conspecifics and/or heterospecifics (the Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea, the Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus and the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher Ficedula zanthopygia) to select a nest site for the second breeding attempt. Our results showed that the nest boxes occupied by tits on their second breeding attempt tended to be surrounded by more breeding conspecific nests, successful first nests of conspecifics, and fewer failed first nests of conspecifics than the nest boxes that remained unoccupied (the control group). However, the numbers of breeding heterospecific nests, successful heterospecific nests, and failed heterospecific nests did not differ between the nest boxes occupied by tits on their second breeding attempt and the unoccupied nest boxes. Furthermore, the tits with local successful breeding experience tended to choose areas with more successful first nests of conspecifics than those without successful breeding experience. Thus, we suggest that conspecifics' but not heterospecifics’ social information within the same breeding season is the major factor influencing the nest site selection of Japanese Tits during second breeding attempts.

Does nest occupancy by birds influence the microbial composition?

Nest microbiota plays a vital role in the breeding and development of birds, which not only provides protection to bird hosts but also negatively affects the host. At present, it is unclear whether the composition of the microbes in the nests is affected by nesting. For this reason, we hung artificial nest boxes to simulate the natural nesting environment and combined 16S rRNA and ITS high-throughput sequencing technology to further study the differences in microbial composition and richness between used nests and control nests of Japanese tits (Parus minor). The study found that the bacteria in used nests and control nests showed significant differences at the phylum level (p < 0.05). It is also worth noting that the predominant bacteria in used nests were Proteobacteria (51.37%), Actinobacteria (29.72%), Bacteroidetes (6.59%), and Firmicutes (3.82%), while the predominant bacteria in control nests were Proteobacteria (93.70%), Bacteroidetes (2.33%), and Acidobacteria (2.06%). Both used nests and control nests showed similar fungi at the phylum level, which consisted mainly of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, although significant differences were found in their relative abundance between both groups. The results of alpha diversity analysis showed significant differences in bacteria between the two groups and not in fungi. However, the beta diversity analysis showed significant differences between both bacteria and fungi. In summary, our results showed that the used nests had a higher abundance of beneficial microbiota and a lower presence of pathogenic microbiota. Therefore, we speculate that birds will change the characteristics of the nest microbial composition in the process of nest breeding to ensure their smooth reproductive development.

Eggshell spots are an important cue for the egg retrieval behavior in two tit species.

It is a common occurrence for incubating female ground- or cavity-nesting birds to accidentally roll their own eggs out of the nest cup. To correctly roll eggs that are not in the nest cup back to the nest, birds must be able to discriminate between their eggs and things around their nests that could be easily confused for their eggs (e.g., egg-shaped stones or other birds' eggs). Moreover, there may be a strong interaction between egg retrieval and egg rejection behaviors in the context of avian brood parasitism where recognition and rejection of alien eggs is an effective means for hosts to defend against cuckoo parasitism. It has been shown that green-backed tits (Parus monticolus) and Japanese tits (P. minor) in China have strong egg recognition ability and are able to reject nonmimetic eggs in the nest. Eggshell spots play an essential role in the egg rejection behavior of these two tit hosts. This study investigated the egg retrieval behavior of green-backed tits and Japanese tits by adding one experimental egg to the nest corner to explore whether eggshell spots also play a role in the process of egg retrieval. The results revealed significant differences in the retrieval rates of white-rumped munia (Lonchura striata) eggs painted with spots, Japanese tits' own true eggs, and unpainted, pure white-white-rumped munia eggs. The retrieval rate of white-white-rumped munia eggs was significantly lower than that of spotted white-rumped munia eggs and Japanese tits' own spotted eggs. For green-backed tits, the retrieval rate of spotted white-rumped munia eggs in the nest corner was significantly higher than that of pure white-white-rumped munia eggs, while the rejection rate of spotted white-rumped munia eggs was significantly lower than that of pure white-white-rumped munia eggs. These findings indicate that eggshell spots play a key role in the egg retrieval of green-backed tits and Japanese tits.

Tit alarm calls trigger anti-predator behavior in free-range domestic chickens

Interspecific call transmission is a common information-gathering behavior in birds. Unlike centralized large-scale chicken farming in urban areas, domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) in remote mountainous areas of China are often raised free-range by individual households. Free-range domestic chickens are exposed to many natural predators and can increase their chances of survival if they can respond to heterospecific alarm signals. To this end, we observed free-ranging domestic chickens in Miao village communities around Leishan County, Guizhou, southwestern China, and we performed comparisons on the behavioral responses of these chickens to the territorial song and alarm calls of wild Japanese tits (Parus minor). Our findings showed that the chickens were more vigilant to Japanese tit alarm calls than to territorial songs and exhibited significant anti-predator behaviors such as vigilance and runaway. Furthermore, there was significant difference in behavioral response to the two different alarm calls, with greater vigilance to tit alarm calls for Siberian chipmunks (Tamias sibiricus) than for sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus). This suggests that domestic chickens can differentiate between territorial songs and alarm calls of wild Japanese tits, and there is a behavioral difference in the two types of alarm calls of Japanese tits.

Bold–shy continuum does not account for egg rejection behaviour in the Japanese tit

Abstract In response to brood parasitism, which significantly reduces the reproductive success of avian hosts, hosts have evolved the ability to recognize and reject parasitic eggs. Many studies have revealed the factors influencing egg recognition and egg rejection. Recent work has demonstrated that host personality along the bold–shy continuum can influence egg rejection behaviour. In addition, the egg rejection behaviour of hosts differs among populations, suggesting that individuals with different personalities might evolve various adaptive behaviours under different parasitic pressures, but there have been few relevant experiments to test this. In the present study, two populations of the Japanese tit, Parus minor, distributed in China were used to examine whether there were differences in egg rejection behaviour of individuals with different personalities. The results showed that egg rejection rates of bold individuals (which remained in the nest box when encountering human invaders) and shy individuals (which immediately flew away from the nest box when encountering human invaders) were similar in both populations of the Japanese tit, and there were also no significant differences in egg rejection rates between individuals of the same personality in the two populations. This study suggests that host personality along the bold–shy continuum does not account for egg rejection behaviour in Japanese tits. This might be attributable either to other factors that affect egg rejection behaviour counteracting the effect of personality or to the presence of multiple personality traits that act together in the Japanese tits, counteracting the effect of a single personality trait.

Automatic Birdsong Splitting and Syllabic Analysis of Jalak Suren

The study of birdsong has received relatively limited attention in the field of artificial intelligence, despite its long-standing intrigue and the question of whether birds possess a form of language. Previous research has provided evidence suggesting the presence of structurally organized words recognized by birds, such as the strong reactions observed in Japanese tits and Pied babblers when exposed to specific sequences of artificially played calls. Altering the speed of a sequence also influences the birds' responses, further supporting the existence of organized linguistic units in avian vocalizations. In this study, we propose a novel approach for analyzing birdsong by employing automatic syllable segmentation and syllabic similarity analysis. Our focus is on the Jalak Suren species (Sturnus contra), renowned for its melodious song. Through the identification and categorization of distinct syllabic units in birdsong recordings, we investigate the statistical occurrence of these syllables within the sequence of birdsong. Our findings reveal remarkable similarities between the statistical occurrence of syllables in birdsong and those found in human language passages

Nest box entrance hole size can influence nest site selection and nest defence behaviour in Japanese tits.

Birds have the ability to assess the risk of predation in their environment and adjust their antipredation strategies based on this risk information. However, whether nest site selection has effect on subsequent nest defence behaviour has not been studied. In this study, we aimed to determine whether the Japanese tit (Parus minor) exhibits a nest-box hole size preference and whether the entrance hole sizes of nest boxes influence the nest defence behaviour of tits. We hung nest boxes with three different entrance hole sizes (diameters: 6.5cm, 4.5cm and 2.8cm) in our study sites and investigated which nest boxes were occupied by tits. In addition, by using dummy-presentation experiments, we observed the nest defence behaviours of tits that nested in boxes with 2.8cm and 4.5cm entrance holes towards common chipmunks (Tamias sibiricus, a small nest predator able to enter these holes) and Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris, a large nest predator unable to enter the 2.8cm entrance hole). The tits that bred in nest boxes with 2.8cm entrance holes exhibited more intense nest defence responses to chipmunks than to squirrels. In contrast, the tits that bred in nest boxes with 4.5cm entrance holes exhibited similar nest defence responses to chipmunks and squirrels. Additionally, Japanese tits that bred in nest boxes with 2.8cm entrance holes exhibited more intense behavioural responses to chipmunks than those that bred in nest boxes with 4.5cm entrance holes. Our results suggested that Japanese tits prefer to occupy nest boxes with small holes for breeding and that nest-box characteristics influenced their nest defence behaviour.

Using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to characterize nest site selection in wild Japanese tits Parus minor

Selecting a suitable nest site is critical to the survival and reproduction of birds. Prospecting allows individuals to gather information on the local quality of potential future breeding sites, which may help them make the best nest site selection decision. However, few studies have focused on the direct links between the prospecting activity of breeders and subsequent nest site selection. In this study, we investigated the prospecting pattern of Japanese tits Parus minor during the pre‐breeding period of the first breeding attempt and whether nest site characteristics influence their nest box visiting behaviour and occupied nest site. We used radio frequency identification (RFID) to track the movements of Japanese tits visiting nest boxes and compared nest site characteristics between visited and unvisited (control) nest boxes, as well as between visited and occupied nest boxes. We found that Japanese tits started visiting nest boxes approximately 20 days before breeding, visited an average of six nest boxes and eventually chose the most visited nest box for breeding activities. Japanese tits were more likely to visit nest boxes that had less canopy cover and lower shrub density but a greater total number of surrounding trees and ultimately chose breeding nest boxes with a smaller entrance inclination, in nesting trees with a larger diameter at breast height (DBH) which were surrounded by trees with a larger DBH. Our results suggest that Japanese tits visit several potential breeding sites before choosing breeding nest boxes and that nest site characteristics can influence their prospecting activity and nest site selection.

Nowhere to escape: the cross‐age avian haemosporidian exposure of migrants in northeast China

Pathogen infection has been progressively recognized as a potential driver of animal migration, and the infection pattern in a certain host may be related to its migration status. Nestling viability can be a crucial life stage in the evolution of the migration cycle but have been irregularly studied to date. In this study, we tested the ‘migratory exposure' hypothesis by comparing the prevalence and diversity of avian haemosporidian parasites in the breeding area between two dominant species including adults and nestlings: yellow‐rumped flycatcher Ficedula zanthopygia, which is a summer migratory species, and Japanese tit Parus minor, which is a local resident species. The yellow‐rumped flycatcher harboured more diverse parasite lineages than the Japanese tit, which is in line with the expectation of the ‘migratory exposure' hypothesis, while nestlings present a similar but more applicable pattern. Among the 40 unique identified parasite lineages, only one was shared between host species and three between age classes. Nestlings suffered a high parasite diversity with plenty of age‐specific lineages in the breeding area, mainly Leucocytozoon, which may suggest an extraordinary selection pressure in early life‐stages during migration. However, the most common lineages in adults were not detected in nestlings, and the prevalence of infection is significantly lower in nestlings than in adults. Our results suggest that migratory birds may have suffered from more frequent parasite infections during migration, but escaped from more virulent lineages at the same time. The difference in susceptibility and parasite assembly between adults and nestlings in migrants may result from an intricate interaction along the evolution of life history. Our investigations have revealed the significance of avian haemosporidian parasite infection patterns in nestlings in breeding areas, and provide a novel insight into the driving forces of migration.

The ABC-D of animal linguistics: are syntax and compositionality for real?

In several animal species, an alarm call (e.g. ABC notes in the Japanese tit Parus minor) can be immediately followed by a recruitment call (e.g. D notes) to yield a complex call that triggers a third behaviour, namely mobbing. This has been taken to be an argument for animal syntax and compositionality (i.e. the property by which the meaning of a complex expression depends on the meaning of its parts and the way they are put together). Several additional discoveries were made across species. First, in some cases, animals respond with mobbing to the order alarm-recruitment but not to the order recruitment-alarm. Second, animals sometimes respond similarly to functionally analogous heterospecific calls they have never heard before, and/or to artificial hybrid sequences made of conspecific and heterospecific calls in the same order, thus adding an argument for the productivity of the relevant rules. We consider the details of these arguments for animal syntax and compositionality and argue that, with one important exception (Japanese tit ABC-D sequences), they currently remain ambiguous: there are reasonable alternatives on which each call is a separate utterance and is interpreted as such ('trivial compositionality'). More generally, we propose that future studies should argue for animal syntax and compositionality by explicitly pitting the target theory against two deflationary analyses: the 'only one expression' hypothesis posits that there is no combination in the first place, for example just a simplex ABCD call; while the 'separate utterances' hypothesis posits that there are separate expressions (e.g. ABC and D), but that they form separate utterances and are neither syntactically nor semantically combined.

A case report of an Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) attacking an incubating adult and depredating the eggs of the Japanese tit (Parus minor).

In May 2021, we opportunistically observed one Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) attacking an adult incubating Japanese tit (Parus minor) and depredating nine tit eggs at a nest box where a woodpecker had greatly enlarged the entrance. After the predation event, the Japanese tits abandoned the nest. We recommend that when using artificial nest boxes to protect hole-nesting birds, the appropriate entrance size should be proportional to the body size of the target species. This observation gives us a better understanding of the potential predators of secondary hole-nesting birds.

ФЕНОЛОГИЯ СИНИЦ НАДВИДА PARUS MAJOR В ПРИАМУРЬЕ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ИХ ВЗАИМООТНОШЕНИЙ В ЗОНЕ СИМПАТРИИ И ГИБРИДИЗАЦИИ

The paper considers the phenological parameters of the great tit (Parus major) and Japanese tit (Parus minor) in Priamurye. In the cohabitation zone of these species, there are places where pronounced hybridization occurs and the areas where it fades and stabilizes. This leads to the zone of sympatry subdivision into three main parts: western, central, and eastern. To understand the phenomenon of hybridization in these parts, its changes and differences, the phenological parameters of the eastern tit were studied and compared with those of the great tit. For the Japanese tit, the author has determined the dates of pre-spring migrations, flight and appearance at nesting sites, spring singing of males, the period of courtship and struggle for females, nest construction and egg laying, incubation of clutches, the appearance of chicks and fledglings, late broods, and also autumn migrations. It is given the data on this species wintering in Priamurye. The same indicators are compared with those for the great tit. It is revealed that the great tit males begin to sing early – from the end of December to the beginning of January, still in wintering groups. The aspects of behavior preceding direct reproduction: courtship of males for females, struggle between males for females, begging for food from males by females in already established pairs, are also manifested in great tits in wintering groups when there is not yet the Japanese tit main population at breeding sites. The spring flight and mass appearance of the Japanese tit at nesting sites occurs since March, and pairs form in nesting sites in April. However, the indicators of direct reproduction in these species coincide in time.

Avian Alarm Calls Do Not Induce Anti-Predator Response in Three Anuran Species.

Many species produce alarm calls in response to predators, and the anti-predator signals are often used by other species. Eavesdropping on heterospecific alarm calls has been widely found in bird and mammal species. Other taxa, such as reptiles and amphibians, however, receive limited attention at present. Here, we selected three types of alarm calls of Japanese Tits (Parus minor) that were evoked by the Siberian Chipmunk (Eutamias sibiricus), Eurasian Sparrow Hawk (Accipiter nisus), and model snake (Elaphe spp.), respectively, and then carried out playback experiments to test whether three frog species changed their behaviors in response to the three treatments of Japanese Tit calls while the tit's territory song was used as a control. The results showed that Little Torrent Frogs (Amolops torrentis), Ornamented Pygmy Frogs (Microhyla fissipes) and Spot-legged Treefrogs (Polypedates megacephalus) did not jump off their positions in response to the same four acoustic signals. They also did not change their calling behaviors in response to the alarm calls of Japanese Tits. This study found no evidence that these anuran species can eavesdrop on heterospecific tits' alarm signals.