The Coal Tits have changed their tune!

[Deb London]

Earler this week two local Coal Tits were singing near to each other. They had what sounded to be identical songs and I think there might have been a bit of rivalry going on. They were visibly displaying to each other and they were very vocal. What puzzled me was that this song was very different compared with earlier in the year.

This is very much like the Coal Tits sounded in the spring, although there were variations on this:

XC25571 Coal Tit (Parus ater) | sound on xeno-canto/europe


This is like the song I heard this week:

XC32858 Coal Tit (Parus ater) | sound on xeno-canto/europe


To help me understand their behaviour a bit better, does anyone know if individuals intrinsically posses a wider repertoire than they usually sing? Or is it likely that they were different individuals, or youngsters even? Or can they mimic each other; maybe only one of the birds was new to the area?

Sorry for all the questions, but it's been puzzling me all week.

[RKB]

An individual Coal Tit can have several (half a dozen or more) different song variants. They will sometimes switch between them in one song bout. They also vary a bit between individuals. Commonly, when a pair of birds are having a song duel, one will tend to switch to the song type of the other. They will also mimic - I've seen a Coal Tit enter a song duel with a Marsh Tit by singing a Marsh Tit song back at it.

But the second song you posted sounds a lot like an extended version of one of the common aggression calls - a loud "pooo-teee", repeated several times.

So, your birds might be the same as in spring (they commonly live for 4-5 years) that just happen to be singing a different song. Or it could be one or more new birds with a different variant, or they they might be the same or different birds that are calling at each other but not really singing.

Song is uncommon in Coal Tits at this time of year. It's most common in early spring (Feb-Apr) when territories are being defended, and again in summer (June/July) when juvs are establishing themselves in home-ranges. But they will sing a bit all year round.

Quite a lot of work has been done on Coal Tits, and this might be an interesting start: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...465.x/abstract

[Deb London]

Interesting stuff, thanks for your reply, RKB.

I didn't know about song duels, and I have a feeling that's exactly what that was. Yes, a little bit aggressive, but as far as I'm concerned, it was a song.

I haven't heard it before or since. But I'm so glad they are interested enough in the gardens around here to be exhibiting this sort of behaviour.

PS Thank you for the link!