{"id":152390,"date":"2025-02-07T17:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T23:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/windycityparrot.com\/?p=147216"},"modified":"2025-02-07T17:09:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T23:09:00","slug":"dyk-baby-birds-can-tell-when-a-predator-is-near-by-listening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/?p=152390","title":{"rendered":"DYK Baby Birds Can Tell When a Predator Is Near\u2014by Listening!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Scientists have discovered something amazing about baby birds (nestlings) of two parrotbill species: they can figure out if a predator is nearby just by hearing its sounds! <\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Even though they are too young to fly away or defend themselves, these little birds know when to stay quiet to avoid danger.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\"><!--more--><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Why Is This Important?<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Many baby birds don\u2019t survive because predators find their nests and eat them. <\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Birds have developed different ways to protect themselves, but scientists mostly study how adult birds react to danger. <\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">What about the babies? Can they also sense a threat on their own? This study wanted to find out!<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"Silencing hungry baby bird to avoid predators\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tG5lJ38kG64\" width=\"593\" height=\"1055\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">How Did Scientists Test This?<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Researchers studied two types of birds:<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Reed Parrotbill<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"147222\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/?attachment_id=147222\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/reed-parrotbil-1.jpg?fit=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"600,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Sun Jiao&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Sun Jiao&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/reed-parrotbil-1.jpg?fit=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-147222 aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/reed-parrotbil.jpg?resize=600%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Reed parrotbill\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Vinous-throated Parrotbill<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"147223\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/?attachment_id=147223\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/reed-parrotbil-2.jpg?fit=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"600,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Sun Jiao&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Sun Jiao&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/reed-parrotbil-2.jpg?fit=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-147223\" title=\"Vinous-throated-parrotbill\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vinous-throated-parrotbill.jpg?resize=600%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Vinous-throated parrotbill\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">These birds live in reedbeds in China. Scientists played different sounds near their nests and watched how the baby birds reacted.<\/span><\/h3>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">The Sounds Played:<\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Sparrowhawk Calls \u2013 A dangerous bird of prey that sometimes eats baby birds.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Oriental Magpie Calls \u2013 Another predator that often eats eggs and nestlings.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Oriental Turtle Dove Calls \u2013 A harmless bird that doesn\u2019t threaten nestlings.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Background Noise \u2013 Random sounds to compare reactions.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">What Did the Baby Birds Do?<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">When they heard Sparrowhawk or Magpie sounds, they stopped begging for food.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">When they heard Turtle Dove sounds or background noise, they kept calling for food as usual.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">The Sparrowhawk\u2019s call made the baby birds the quietest\u2014they knew it was extra dangerous!<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"Sparrowhawk Call - What Sound Do Sparrowhawks Make ? - Birds of Prey\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Oo4SPJV6E1w\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">This means the nestlings can tell the difference between scary predators and harmless birds just by sound\u2014without any help from their parents!<\/span><\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Why Is This So Cool?<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">It helps baby birds survive. If they beg loudly when a predator is nearby, they could get eaten!<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">They don\u2019t need parents to warn them. Even if the parents are away, they can react to danger on their own.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">It shows how smart animals are. Even tiny nestlings have built-in survival skills!<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"Oriental Turtle-Dove, bathing, feeding and song\/call\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PR7_LyZxg20\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Final Thoughts<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">This study proves that even baby birds have ways to protect themselves! They might not be able to fly or fight back, but they listen carefully and know when to stay silent. Next time you hear birds chirping, remember\u2014they might also be listening for danger!<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Why Is This Important?<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Chirping too much can attract predators. If a nestling makes noise when a predator is near, it could get eaten!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Some birds are naturally born with survival skills. Even without their parents around, these baby birds know how to react.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">It helps us understand how animals avoid danger. Just like some animals freeze or run when scared, these birds stay quiet to stay safe.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Can Baby Birds Tell Which Predators Are More Dangerous?<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Yes! The nestlings reacted even more strongly to sparrowhawk calls than magpie calls. Scientists think this could be because:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Sparrowhawks are rare, so the sound is unfamiliar. The baby birds might react more strongly because they don\u2019t recognize the sound.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Birds of prey have a special type of sound. Animals might naturally be more afraid of these types of calls.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Their parents might have passed on knowledge. Even though predators stay quiet when hunting, adult birds might recognize their sounds and somehow pass that awareness to their babies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"Bird nest attacked by a predator bird\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JV8Zcv6l3L8\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">How Do Baby Birds Learn About Danger?<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Scientists think baby birds might learn in two ways:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Innate Behavior (Instincts): Some animals are born knowing how to react to threats. Since sparrowhawks are rare in the study area, the baby birds probably reacted instinctively.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Learning From Others: Some animals watch their parents or other birds to learn about danger. However, scientists aren\u2019t sure if these baby birds learned about magpie sounds from adults or if they figured it out on their own.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">What\u2019s Next?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">This study proved that baby birds can tell the difference between predator and non-predator sounds, but scientists still have questions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Can nestlings see and recognize predators, or do they rely only on sound?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Do nestlings react to predator sounds if they have never faced danger before?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">How much of their behavior is instinct and how much is learned?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">By answering these questions, scientists can better understand how baby birds\u2014and maybe other animals\u2014protect themselves from danger!<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Final Thoughts<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Even though they are small and helpless, baby birds have smart survival skills! They don\u2019t need to see a predator to know it\u2019s dangerous. Just by listening, they can tell when it\u2019s time to be quiet, keeping them safe in their nests.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Nature is full of amazing survival tricks\u2014what other animals do you think have cool ways to stay safe?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;\">Written by Mitch Rezman and the Windy City Parrot content team<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists have discovered something amazing about baby birds (nestlings) of two parrotbill species: they can figure out if a predator is nearby just by hearing its sounds! Even though they are too young to fly away or defend themselves, these little birds know when to stay quiet to avoid danger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","_thinkrank_schema_form_data":"","_thinkrank_selected_schema_type":"","_thinkrank_additional_schemas":"","_thinkrank_canonical_url":"","_thinkrank_og_title":"","_thinkrank_og_description":"","_thinkrank_og_image":"","_thinkrank_twitter_title":"","_thinkrank_twitter_description":"","_thinkrank_twitter_image":"","_thinkrank_imported_from":"","_thinkrank_focus_keywords":[],"_thinkrank_focus_keyword":"","_thinkrank_robots_meta_enabled":0,"_thinkrank_robots_meta":"","_thinkrank_advanced_robots_meta":"","_thinkrank_exclude_from_search":0,"_thinkrank_exclude_from_archives":0,"_thinkrank_primary_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"page_builder":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[193,194,213,195,196,197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bathing-and-health","category-bird-parrot-anaotmy","category-bird-parrot-breeding","category-bird-parrot-care","category-bird-behavior","category-bird-enviornments"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/medium-baby-parrot-bird-without-feathers-in-palms-1-1.jpg?resize=1074%2C445&ssl=1",1074,445,true],"list":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/medium-baby-parrot-bird-without-feathers-in-palms-1-1.jpg?resize=463%2C348&ssl=1",463,348,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/medium-baby-parrot-bird-without-feathers-in-palms-1-1.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/medium-baby-parrot-bird-without-feathers-in-palms-1-1.jpg?fit=1074%2C1074&ssl=1",1074,1074,false]},"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phcfkq-DDU","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/medium-baby-parrot-bird-without-feathers-in-palms-1-1.jpg?fit=1074%2C1074&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=152390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/147218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=152390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=152390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=152390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}