Buzz
Swamp sparrows are creatures of routine, having been singing the same few tunes for more than 1500 years, according to reports from Science magazine.
The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, was based on an analysis of the songs of 615 adult male swamp sparrows across six different locations in the northeastern U.S. The study revealed that young swamp sparrows learn their songs from the adults around them and are able to reproduce them with remarkable accuracy.
Take a listen to one of their songs here:
“We demonstrated that swamp sparrows almost never make errors when learning their songs, and they don’t just learn any song at random; they tend to adopt the more common songs instead of the rarer ones,” says Robert Lachlan, a biologist at Queen Mary University of London and the lead author of the study, in an interview with National Geographic.
In other words, the birds don’t mimic every song their elders sing. Instead, they remember the songs they hear most frequently, and scientists suggest that this form of “conformist bias” was once thought to be a distinctly human trait.
Using acoustic analysis software, the researchers examined every single note in the sparrows’ songs—160 distinct syllables—and found that only 2 percent of sparrows deviated from the norm. They then employed a statistical model to track how these songs evolved over time. By comparing recordings from 2009 and the 1970s, they estimated that the oldest swamp sparrow songs are, on average, 1537 years old.
The swamp sparrow’s commitment to accuracy distinguishes it from other songbirds, according to the study. “Among songbirds, it’s clear that some species, like the swamp sparrow, learn their songs precisely, while others rarely replicate all parts of a demonstrator’s song accurately,” the researchers explain.
The Audubon Guide to North American Birds states that swamp sparrows share similarities with other sparrow species such as Lincoln’s sparrow, song sparrow, and chipping sparrow. These birds are commonly found in marshes across the Northeast, Midwest, and much of Canada. They are known for their sharp, piercing calls and may even respond to loud squeaking sounds made by birdwatchers in their habitat.
