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The paper adds to a growing body of research describing how animals – from whales to coyotes to the whitecrowned sparrow studied here – have adapted their behaviours to Covid-19 shutdowns that forced humans to retreat to their homes, a phenomenon dubbed the “anthropause”.
“When the city was loud, they were singing really loudly,” Elizabeth Derryberry, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Tennessee, who led the study published in Science, said. But as traffic ground to a halt following a statewide shelter-inplace order in spring, noise levels fell by 50 per cent, she said.
The number of vehicles on the
They compared birdsong data they had collected from previous years to recordings made at the same sites from April to May 2020, finding the sparrows were now singing far more quietly, and were able to hit much lower notes, which in turn expanded their range and enhanced their overall performance.
As noise pollution decreased, “their songs also sounded better, they sounded sexier,” Derryberry said. “They were better competitors, and they sounded like better mates to females.”
The scientists were surprised by just how far the volume of their songs had dropped — almost a third. The authors said their research showed just how quickly birds can adapt to changing environments.
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