Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Tutor choice and imitation accuracy during song learning in a wild population of the Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Songbirds learn to sing by modeling their songs on the songs of other males through a process of social learning. Models of social learning predict that animals should be selective in what and when they learn. In this study, we asked whether young males in a wild population of the Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis, were selective in their choice of tutor models and what factors influenced how accurately they imitated tutors’ songs. We first examined two strategies for tutor choice: whether pupils have a conformity bias and/or a preference for high-quality tutors. In keeping with a conformity bias, tutors that sang song types that were relatively common within a radius of about 500 m of their territory were more likely to be imitated than were tutors that sang rarer song types. Most potential tutors were not imitated by pupils. Aspects of tutor quality, such as age, pairing status, and survival to the next year had no effect on whether a tutor’s song was imitated. Secondly, we tested whether pupil repertoire size, pupil quality, and local abundance of tutor models affected the accuracy of song imitations. We found a trade-off between repertoire size and tutor imitation accuracy with males that sang two or more song types developing significantly poorer imitations than males that sang one type. We discuss possible functions of a conformity learning strategy and factors that could produce a trade-off between imitation accuracy and repertoire size.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baker MC, Gammon DE (2008) Vocal memes in natural populations of chickadees: why do some memes persist and others go extinct? Anim Behav 75:279–289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baptista LF (1975) Song dialects and demes in sedentary populations of the white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli). Univ Calif Publ Zool 105:1–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Baptista LF (1977) Geographic variation in song and dialects of the Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow. Condor 79:356–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baptista LF, Morton ML (1988) Song learning in montane white-crowned sparrows: from whom and when. Anim Behav 36:1753–1764

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beecher M (2008) Function and mechanisms of song learning in song sparrows. Adv Stud Behav 38:167–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beecher MD, Campbell SE, Stoddard PK (1994) Correlation of song learning and territory establishment strategies in the song sparrow. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91:1450–1454

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bell DA, Trail PW, Baptista LF (1998) Song learning and vocal tradition in Nuttall’s white-crowned sparrows. Anim Behav 55:939–956

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd R, Richerson PJ (1985) Culture and the evolutionary process. Univ. of Chicago, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (1998) Model selection and inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Catchpole CK, Slater P (2008) Bird song, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chilton G, Lein MR (1996) Song repertoires of Puget Sound white-crowned sparrows Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis. J Avian Biol 27:31–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeWolfe BB, Baptista LF (1995) Singing behavior, song types on their wintering grounds and the question of leap-frog migration in Puget Sound white-crowned sparrows. Condor 97:376–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engineering Design (2009) Signal reference guide, 5.04 edn. Engineering Design, Berkeley

  • Ghisletta P, Spini D (2004) An introduction to generalized estimating equations and an application to assess selectivity effects in a longitudinal study on very old individuals. J Educ Behav Stat 29:421–437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant BR, Grant PR (1996) Cultural inheritance of song and its role in the evolution of Darwin’s finches. Evolution 50:2471–2487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greig EI, Taft BN, Pruett-Jones S (2012) Sons learn songs from their social fathers in a cooperatively breeding bird. Proc R Soc Lond B 279:3154–3160

  • Harbison H, Nelson DA, Hahn TP (1999) Long-term persistence of song dialects in the mountain white-crowned sparrow. Condor 101:133–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardin J, Hilbe J (2003) Generalized estimating equations. Chapman & Hall, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoppitt W, Laland KN (2013) Social learning. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes M, Hultsch H, Todt D (2002) Imitation and invention in song learning in nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos B., Turdidae). Ethology 108:97–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hultsch H, Todt D (1992) The serial order effect in the song acquisition of birds: relevance of exposure frequency to song models. Anim Behav 44:590–592

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins PF (1977) Cultural transmission of song patterns and dialect development in a free-living bird population. Anim Behav 25:50–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson F, Soderstrom K, Whitney O (2002) Quantifying song bout production during zebra finch sensory-motor learning suggests a sensitive period for vocal practice. Behav Brain Res 131:57–65

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kokko H (1999) Competition for early arrival in migratory birds. J Anim Ecol 68:940–950

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs JR, Kroodsma DE (1980) Repertoires and geographical variation in bird song. Adv Stud Behav 11:143–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kroodsma DE (1974) Song learning, dialects, and dispersal in the Bewick’s wren. Z Tierpsychol 35:352–380

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lahti DC, Moseley DL, Podos J (2011) A tradeoff between performance and accuracy in bird song learning. Ethology 117:802–811

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN (2004) Social learning strategies. Learn Behav 32:4–14

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marler P (1970) A comparative approach to vocal learning: song development in white-crowned sparrows. J Comp Physiol Psychol Monogr 71:1–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marler P, Peters S (1977) Selective vocal learning in a sparrow. Science 198:519–521

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marler P, Peters S (1981) Sparrows learn adult song and more from memory. Science 213:780–782

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marler P, Peters S (1982a) Long-term storage of learned birdsongs prior to production. Anim Behav 30:479–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marler P, Peters S (1982b) Subsong and plastic song: their role in the vocal learning process. In: Kroodsma DE, Miller EH (eds) Acoustic communication in birds: II. Song learning and its consequences. Academic Press, New York, pp 25–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Marler P, Tamura M (1962) Song “dialects” in three populations of white-crowned sparrows. Condor 64:368–377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morton ML (2002) The mountain white-crowned sparrow: migration and reproduction at high altitude. Stud Avian Biol-Ser 24:1–236

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morton ML, Wakamatsu MW, Pereyra ME, Morton GA (1991) Postfledging dispersal, habitat imprinting, and philopatry in a montane, migratory sparrow. Ornis Scand 22:98–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mundinger PC (1982) Microgeographic and macrogeographic variation in acquired vocalizations of birds. In: Kroodsma DE, Miller EH (eds) Acoustic communication in birds. Academic Press, New York, pp 147–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson D, Poesel A (2013) Song sharing correlates with pairing success, but not territory tenure in the Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 67:993–1000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DA (2000) Song overproduction, selective attrition, and vocal dialects in the white-crowned sparrow. Anim Behav 60:887–898

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DA, Hallberg KI, Soha JA (2004) Cultural evolution of Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow song dialects. Ethology 110:879–908

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DA, Marler P (1994) Selection-based learning in bird song development. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91:10498–10501

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DA, Marler P, Morton ML (1996) Overproduction in song development: an evolutionary correlate with migration. Anim Behav 51:1127–1140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DA, Poesel A (2009) Does learning produce song conformity or novelty in white-crowned sparrows? Anim Behav 78:433–440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nordby JC, Campbell SE, Beecher MD (1999) Ecological correlates of song learning in song sparrows. Behav Ecol 10:287–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nowicki S, Peters S, Podos J (1998) Song learning, early nutrition and sexual selection in songbirds. Am Zool 38:179–190

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Loghlen AL, Rothstein SI (2002) Vocal development is correlated with an indicator of hatching date in brown-headed cowbirds. Condor 104:761–771

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan W (2001) Akaike’s information criterion in generalized estimating equations. Biometrics 57:120–125

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Payne RB, Payne K (1977) Social organization and mating success in local song populations of village indigobirds, Vidua chalybeata. Z Tierpsychol 45:113–173

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Payne RB, Payne LL (1993) Song copying and cultural transmission in indigo buntings. Anim Behav 46:1045–1065

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters S, Marler P, Nowicki S (1992) Song sparrows learn from limited exposure to song models. Condor 94:1016–1019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrinovich L (1985) Factors influencing song development in the white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys). J Comp Psychol 99:15–29

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Poesel A, Gibbs HL, Nelson DA (2011) Extrapair fertilizations and the potential for sexual selection in a socially monogamous songbird. Auk 128:770–776

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poesel A, Nelson DA, Gibbs HL (2012) Song sharing correlates with social but not extrapair mating success in the white-crowned sparrow. Behav Ecol 23:627–634

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sewall KB, Soha JA, Peters S, Nowicki S (2013) Potential trade-off between vocal ornamentation and spatial ability in a songbird. Biol Lett 9:20130344

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Slater P, Eales L, Clayton N (1988) Song learning in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata): progress and prospects. Adv Stud Behav 18:1–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soha JA, Nelson DA, Parker PG (2004) Genetic analysis of song dialect populations in Puget Sound white-crowned sparrows. Behav Ecol 15:636–646

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer KA, MacDougall-Shackleton SA (2011) Indicators of development as sexually selected traits: the developmental stress hypothesis in context. Behav Ecol 22:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sprau P, Mundry R (2010) Song type sharing in common nightingales, Luscinia megarhynchos, and its implications for cultural evolution. Anim Behav 80:427–434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoddard PK, Beecher MD, Loesche P, Campbell SE (1992) Memory does not constrain individual recognition in a bird with song repertoires. Behaviour 122:274–287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tchernichovski O, Lints T, Mitra PP, Nottebohm F (1999) Vocal imitation in zebra finches is inversely related to model abundance. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 96:12901–12904

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Templeton CN, Reed VA, Campbell SE, Beecher MD (2012) Spatial movements and social networks in juvenile male song sparrows. Behav Ecol 23:141–152

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • ten Cate C (1987) Sexual preferences in zebra finch males raised by two species: II. The internal representation resulting from double imprinting. Anim Behav 35:321–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorpe WH (1958) The learning of song patterns by birds, with especial reference to the song of the chaffinch Fringilla coelebs. Ibis 100:535–570

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheelwright NT, Swett MB, Levin II, Kroodsma DE, Freeman-Gallant CR, Williams H (2008) The influence of different tutor types on song learning in a natural bird population. Anim Behav 75:1479–1493

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the National Science Foundation (IBN04-15842). We thank the Oregon State Parks Department, the staff at Bullard’s Beach State Park, and the Port of Bandon for granting permission to work on their properties. Karen Hallberg, Erin Lindstedt, Danielle Smith, and Robin Tarter analysed songs. Ian Hamilton, Henrik Brumm, and two reviewers made helpful comments on the manuscript.

Ethical standards

These observations were made in accordance with State of Oregon and United States laws. Procedures approved by Ohio State University IACUC Protocol 2000A005.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics, Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH, 43212, USA

    Douglas A. Nelson & Angelika Poesel

Authors
  1. Douglas A. Nelson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Angelika Poesel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Douglas A. Nelson.

Additional information

Communicated by H. Brumm

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nelson, D.A., Poesel, A. Tutor choice and imitation accuracy during song learning in a wild population of the Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 68, 1741–1752 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1782-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1782-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation