The Great Tit Adapts

Thanks to BLDBLOG for an informative post about the evolving songs of city birds, which cites an alarming article in New Scientist magazine.

Some species simply are not able to make themselves heard above the ever-growing racket and are finding themselves squeezed out of the city. Others are beginning to change the way they communicate. In the long term, new species may evolve. If noise levels continue to rise, it seems inevitable that urban bird life will change dramatically … If singing and hearing diverge enough, urban birds may be less likely to find the vocals of rural birds attractive, or even to recognize them as members of the same species. These changes could serve to eventually split populations into genetically distinct urban and rural species. Alternatively, different populations of the same species might adopt differing strategies to cope with urban noise, leading eventually to a species split occurring in birds living in the same neighborhood.

Yes, it seems that warblers, finches, blackbirds and even the great tit, are all learning to adapt to human noise-pollution.

The long-view on this is that, as their individual mating calls become more similar, pigeons are going to start mating with the homeless, leading to a race of Wild Irish Rose-fueled über-pigeons capable of staggering long distances and flying straight through window panes.

For now … we wait.