Like human children, young songbirds are particularly susceptible to noise. Long-term consequences cannot be ruled out.
Seewiesen (dpa) – Constant traffic noise disturbs young birds when they are learning their song and inhibits their immune system. This is the result of a study by the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen near Starnberg.
“Our results suggest that young songbirds, like human children, are particularly susceptible to the effects of noise because it can interfere with learning at a critical stage of development,” said the head of the international research project, Henrik Brumm.
The researchers even believe that it is possible that traffic noise can permanently alter the birdsong. Noise-related copying errors are likely to accumulate when the song is passed on from one bird to another, they suspect.
For the study, the research team regularly played male zebra finch chicks to the song of adult males. A group of birds also heard noise as it performed along busy roads. The scientists found that the animals from noisy nests had weaker immune reactions. “So noise seems to have been a source of chronic stress in these young birds,” she concluded. In addition, the vocal development of the chicks was greatly delayed and the accuracy in learning to sing was significantly lower.
The researchers have been observing zebra finches for a long time. In autumn 2019, they published a study that found chicks that grew up with street noise were smaller than those from a quiet nesting site. They would later catch up, but long-term consequences cannot be ruled out. Other research found, for example, that birds sing louder and at different times to drown out street noise.
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Study of birdsong
