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Sound the Alarm! How chickadees and other small songbirds communicate sophisticated information about predators

Chris Templeton

May 28, 7:00pm at Whatcom Museum Old City Hall

The abundance of bird song is one of the most remarkable springtime transformations. These vocalizations fill the air with music-like sounds, but they are just one type of sound made by birds. Why do birds make a variety of sounds and what do these different sounds mean? In this presentation, biologist Chris Templeton will introduce you to avian bioacoustics, describe how birds produce their impressive vocalizations, and discuss the types of information they communicate. The talk will highlight some of the bioacoustics work his research group is conducting on common songbirds, such as chickadees and nuthatches. While the birds might be common, their vocalizations are anything but; chickadees have one of the most sophisticated means of communicating about predators. He will discuss what types of information is encoded in subtle variations of chickadee alarm calls and how other songbird species use this information to learn about threats in their environment. 

Dr. Chris Templeton is a faculty member in the Biology Department at Western Washington University. He has spent more than 20 years as an ornithologist and studied a wide variety of different bird species. His research focuses primarily on avian cognition and communication—how smart are birds and how do they talk to each other? Templeton has traveled around the world to study numerous avian species and their vocalizations, and published more than 50 scientific papers on the subject.