Female song in the Cyprus Wheatear Oenanthe cypriaca
Abstract
Female song is widespread across bird species yet rarely reported. Here, we report the first observations and description of female song in the Cyprus Wheatear Oenanthe cypriaca and compare it to male song through the breeding season. Twenty-five percent of colour-ringed females were observed singing at least once, predominantly in April, compared to 71% of males that continued singing through the breeding period. We suggest that female song may have multiple functions in this species, but it may be especially important in territorial defence and mate acquisition.
Citation
Patchett , R , Kirschel , A N G , Robins King , J , Styles , P & Cresswell , W 2021 , ' Female song in the Cyprus Wheatear Oenanthe cypriaca ' , Journal of Ornithology , vol. First Online . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-021-01902-z
Publication
Journal of Ornithology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2193-7192Type
Journal article
Description
We thank the A.P. Leventis Conservation Foundation for supporting this work.Collections
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