Environmentally dependent sensitive periods for avian vocal learning

ABSTRACT Experience during brief periods of development can exert a profound influence on later life1. Among songbirds, experimental evidence for enhanced vocal learning during a relatively

brief period early in life is well documented2,3. The timing of vocal learning with respect to dispersal is fundamental to our understanding of many population processes, yet the

significance of the sensitive period remains unclear. We report here that in our study of the marsh wren (_Cistothorus palustris_), a North American songbird, we found that the sensitive

period for song learning is not rigidly programmed with respect to dispersal and/or migration; two environmental factors, the photoperiod and the amount of adult song heard during the

hatching year, influence the nature of the sensitive period during the hatching year, the ability to learn further the next spring, and the relative dates at which young males develop their

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customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS SENESCENCE OF SONG REVEALED BY A LONG-TERM STUDY OF THE SEYCHELLES WARBLER (_ACROCEPHALUS SECHELLENSIS_) Article Open access 24

November 2020 VOCAL CONVERGENCE AND SOCIAL PROXIMITY SHAPE THE CALLS OF THE MOST BASAL PASSERIFORMES, NEW ZEALAND WRENS Article Open access 15 May 2024 VOCAL PANTING: A NOVEL

THERMOREGULATORY MECHANISM FOR ENHANCING HEAT TOLERANCE IN A DESERT-ADAPTED BIRD Article Open access 03 November 2020 REFERENCES * Bateson, P. _Anim. Behav._ 27, 470–486 (1979). Article 

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Present address: Department of Zoology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003 AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Rockefeller University Field Research Center, Millbrook, New

York, 12545 Donald E. Kroodsma & Roberta Pickert Authors * Donald E. Kroodsma View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Roberta Pickert View

author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Kroodsma, D., Pickert, R.

Environmentally dependent sensitive periods for avian vocal learning. _Nature_ 288, 477–479 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/288477a0 Download citation * Received: 28 January 1980 *

Accepted: 24 September 1980 * Issue Date: 04 December 1980 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/288477a0 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this

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