PhD Student Matthew Zipple, Susan Peters, Bill Searcy (U. Miami), and Steve Nowicki found that female swamp sparrows do not show any preference for the songs of males that are in the peak of their lives as compared to songs recorded from the same males after they senesced. This lack of female preference is in contrast to male swamp sparrows, who this group has previously found to respond more aggressively to the songs of peak-aged songs as compared to senescent songs. They describe their findings in a new paper, published Oct 26 in the journal Ethology.

By Matthew Zipple

CITATION: Zipple, M. N., Peters, S., Searcy, W. A, Nowicki, S. Female swamp sparrows do not show evidence of discriminating between the songs of peak-aged and senescent males. Ethology, DOI: 10.1111/eth.13102