Research on avian vocalisations has traditionally focused on male song produced by oscine
passerines. However, accumulating evidence indicates that complex vocalisations can …

Highlights•Females might use song to communicate with males or to compete with other
females.•We measured female and male song across stage, and in response to female …

Though well studied in males, little is known about the factors influencing variation in
expression of exaggerated traits such as intense aggression, elaborate ornaments, and …

Vocal production learning (the capacity to learn to produce vocalizations) is a
multidimensional trait that involves different learning mechanisms during different temporal …

Many factors may influence the evolution of acoustic signals, including sexual selection,
morphological constraints and environmental variation. These factors can play simultaneous …

Bird song is thought to function primarily in same-sex competition, mate attraction, and
reproductive stimulation of a partner. However, these conclusions are based largely on …

Prenatal imitative learning is an emerging research area in both human and non-human
animals. Previous studies in Superb Fairywrens (Malurus cyaneus) showed that mothers are …

Personality syndromes in animals may have adaptive benefits for survival. For example,
while engaging in predator deterrence, reactive individuals tend to prioritise their own …

Birdsong is regarded as a classic example of a sexually-selected trait and has been
primarily studied in systems with male song. Complex solo female song is emerging from the …

Abstract The Australo-Papuan fairy-wrens, emu-wrens and grasswrens comprise the
passerine family Maluridae. They have long been known for their spectacular plumages …