Monthly Membership Program

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Tweet Training:

How Social Interactions Impact Song Use and Learning in Song Sparrows

April 22 6:30pm Whatcom Museum Old City Hall (In Person)

Social Hour at 6:30pm, program at 7:00pm

As we undergo the annual springtime transformation, one of the most conspicuous changes is the incredible abundance of bird song. These vocalizations fill the air with music-like sounds that are a delight to our ears, but have you ever wondered why birds sing or how they learn to make these songs? In this presentation, biologist Chris Templeton will introduce you to avian bioacoustics, describe how songbirds produce their vocalizations, describe the types of information communicated in these signals, and discuss how young birds go about learning their song repertoires. The talk will highlight some of the bioacoustics work his research group has conducted on Song Sparrows, common local songbirds well known for their beautiful songs. He will discuss how young Song Sparrows go about choosing which songs to include in their song repertoires and how these decisions impact their ability to communicate with future competitors and potential mates. 

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.