Skip to main content
Log in

Vivid birds respond more to acoustic signals of predators

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Because conspicuous morphology such as colorful plumage may increase predation risk, we aimed to see if variation in plumage coloration could explain variation in avian anti-predator behavior. We included several measures of plumage coloration: human perception of vividness from images in field guides, total intensity from reflectance spectra of museum skins, contrasts calculated from physiological models of these spectra parameterized for both raptors and humans, chroma, and spectral saturation. We investigated how well these measurements predicted risk assessment in ten species of birds in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. We quantified how each species responded to playbacks of a predator’s calls and compared this response to that elicited by songs from a non-predatory, sympatric bird. We found that human-determined measures of vividness best predicted anti-predator responses of birds—more vividly colored species responded more to predators than duller species. No spectrophotometric variable explained variation in species reactions to a predator call. Our results suggest that vivid birds may compensate for their conspicuousness by being more responsive to the sound of predators and that more work is needed to better evaluate how animal coloration is quantified in comparative studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams JL, Camelio KW, Orique MJ, Blumstein DT (2006) Does information of predators influence general wariness? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 60:742–747

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson S, Örnborg J, Andersson M (1998) Ultraviolet sexual dimorphism and assortative mating in blue tits. Proc R Soc Lond B 265:445–450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armenta JK, Dunn PO, Whittingham LA (2008) Quantifying avian sexual dichromatism: a comparison of methods. J Exp Biol 211:2423–2430

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baker RR, Parker GA (1979) The evolution of bird coloration. Philos T Roy Soc B 287:63–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett ATD, Cuthill IC, Norris KJ (1994) Sexual selection and the mismeasure of color. Am Nat 144:848–860

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blumstein DT (2006) Developing an evolutionary ecology of fear: how life history and natural history traits affect disturbance tolerance in birds. Anim Behav 71:389–399

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blumstein DT, Daniel JC (2007) Quantifying behavior the JWatcher way. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumstein DT, Cooley L, Winternitz J, Daniel JC (2008) Do yellow-bellied marmots respond to predator vocalizations? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62:457–468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brodie ED (1989) Genetic correlations between morphology and antipredator behaviour in natural populations of the garter snake Thamnophis ordinoides. Nature 343:542–543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burkhardt D (1989) UV vision: a bird’s eye view of feathers. J Comp Physiol A 164:787–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns KJ, Shultz AJ (2012) Widespread cryptic dichromatism and ultraviolet reflectance in the largest radiation of neotropical songbirds: implications of accounting for avian vision in the study of plumage evolution. Auk 129:211–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabido C, Galan P, Lopez P, Martin J (2008) Conspicuousness-dependent antipredatory behavior may counteract coloration differences in Iberian rock lizards. Behav Ecol 20:362–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caro T (2005) Antipredator defenses in birds and mammals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Castilla AM, Bauwens D (1991) Observations on the natural history, present status, and conservation of the insular 1izard Podarcis hispanica atrata on the Columbretes Archipelago, Spain. Biol Conserv 58:69–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cott HB (1940) Adaptive colouration in animals. Methuen, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Cott HB (1946) The edibility of birds: illustrated by five years’ experiments and observations (1941–1945) on the food preferences of the hornet, cat and man; and considered with special reference to the theories of adaptive coloration. Proc Zool Soc London 116:371–524

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cuadrado M, Martin J, Lopez P (2001) Camouflage and escape decisions in the common chameleon Chamaeleo chamaeleon. Biol J Linn Soc 72:547–554

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cuthill IC, Bennett ATD, Partridge JC, Maier EJ (1999) Plumage reflectance and the objective assessment of avian sexual dichromatism. Am Nat 153:183–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin C (1859) On the origin of species by means of natural selection. John Murray, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin C (1871) The descent of man: and selection in relation to sex. John Murray, Washington, DC

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Doucet SM, Hill GE (2009) Do museum specimens accurately represent wild birds? A case study of carotenoid, melanin, and structural colours in long-tailed manikins Chiroxiphia linearis. J Avian Biol 40:146–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn J, Alderfer J (2006) National geographic field guide to the birds of North America, 5th edn. National Geographic Books, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunning JB (2008) CRC handbook of avian body masses, 2nd edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Eaton MD (2005) Human vision fails to distinguish widespread sexual dichromatism among sexually “monochromatic” birds. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:10942–10946

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton MD (2007) Avian visual perspective on plumage coloration confirms rarity of sexually monochromatic North American passerines. Auk 124:155–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Endler JA (1990) On the measurement and classification of colour in studies of animal colour patterns. Biol J Linn Soc 41:315–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Endler JA (1993) The color of light in forests and its implications. Ecol Monogr 63:1-27

    Google Scholar 

  • Endler JA, Paul W, Mielke J ( 2005) Comparing entire colour patterns as birds see them. Biol J Linnean Soc 86:405–431

    Google Scholar 

  • Felsenstein J (2004) Inferring phylogenies. Sinauer, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernández-Juricic E, Beauchamp G, Treminio R, Hoover M (2011) Making heads turn: association between head movements during vigilance and perceived predation risk in brown-headed cowbird flocks. Anim Behav 82:573–577

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernández-Juricic E, Deisher M, Stark A, Randolet J (2012) Predator detection is limited in microhabitats with high light intensity: An experiment with brown-headed cowbirds. Ethology 118:341–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fjeldså J, Krabbe N (1990) Birds of the high Andes. University of Coopenhagen, Copenhagen Zoological Museum, Coopenhagen

    Google Scholar 

  • Forsman A, Appelqvist S (1998) Visual predators impose correlational selection on prey color pattern and behavior. Behav Ecol 9:409–413

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gomez D (2006) AVICOL, a program to analyse spectrometric data. http://sites.google.com/site/avicolprogram/. Accessed Oct 2011

  • Götmark F (1993) Coloration in male birds is favoured by predation in some species and disfavoured in others. Proc R Soc Lond B 253:143–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guilford T (1986) How do ‘warning colours’ work? Conspicuousness may reduce recognition errors in experienced predators. Anim Behav 34:286–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hackett SJ, Kimball RT, Reddy S, Bowie RCK, Braun EL et al (2008) A phylogenomic study of birds reveals their evolutionary history. Science 320:1763–1768

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Håstad O, Ödeen A (2008) Different ranking of avian colors predicted by modeling of retinal function in humans and birds. Am Nat 171:831–838

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hedrick A (2000) Crickets with extravagant mating songs compensate for predation risk with extra caution. Proc R Soc London, Ser B 267:671–675

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huhta E, Rytkönen S, Solonen T (2003) Plumage brightness of prey increases predation risk: an among species comparison. Ecology 84:1793–1799

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Husak J, Macedonia J, Fox S, Sauceda R (2006) Predation cost of conspicuous male coloration in collared lizards (Crotaphytus collaris): an experimental test using clay-covered model lizards. Ethology 112:572–580

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Husak JF, Rouse MN (2006) Population variation in escape behavior and limb morphology of collared lizards (Crotaphytus collaris) in Oklahoma. Herpatologica 62:156–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnsgard PA (1986) Birds of the Rocky Mountains: with particular reference to national parks in the Northern Rocky Mountain region. Colorado Associated University Press, Boulder

    Google Scholar 

  • Jønsson KA, Fjeldså J (2006) A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri). Zool Scr 35:149–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer DL, McLaughlin RL (2001) The behavioral ecology of intermittent locomotion. Am Zool 41:137–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lind J, Cresswell W (2005) Determining the fitness consequences of antipredation behavior. Behav Ecol 16:945–956

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magrath RD, Pitcher BJ, Dalziell AH (2007) How to be fed but not eaten: nestling responses to parental food calls and the sound of predator’s footsteps. Anim Behav 74:1117–1129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maier EJ, Bowmaker JK (1993) Color-vision in the passeriform bird, Leiothrix lutea—correlation of visual pigment absorbency and oil droplet transmission with spectral sensitivity. J Comput Phys A 172:395–301

    Google Scholar 

  • McAdam AG, Kramer DL (1998) Vigilance as a benefit of intermittent locomotion in small mammals. Anim Behav 55:109–117

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McNett GD, Marchetti K (2005) Ultraviolet degradation in carotenoid patches: live versus museum specimens of wood warblers (Parulidae). Auk 122:793–802

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merilata S (1999) Optimization of cryptic coloration in heterogeneous habitats. Biol J Linn Soc 67:151–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merilata S, Lind J (2005) Background-matching and disruptive coloration, and the evolution of cryptic coloration. Proc R Soc London, Ser B 272:665–670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller C, Bee M (2012) Receiver psychology turns 20: is it time for a broader approach? Anim Behav 83:331–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montgomerie R (2006) Analyzing colors. In: Hill EG, McGraw KJ (eds) Bird coloration, vol 1, Mechanism and measurements. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 90–147

    Google Scholar 

  • National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior (2008) Virgin Islands. GPO:2008-339-126/80073

  • Neal OJ (2009) Responses to the audio broadcasts of predator vocalizations by eight sympatric primates in Suriname, South America. MSc thesis, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

  • Oberle MW (2008) Caribbean Bird Song: Puerto Rico south to Grenada, with the Bahamas, Caymans, San Andrés. Compact Disc. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY

  • Ödeen A, Håstad O (2003) Complex distribution of avian color vision systems revealed by sequencing the SWS1 opsin from total DNA. Mol Biol Evol 20:855–861

    Google Scholar 

  • Paradis E, Claude J, Strimmer K (2004) APE: analyses of phylogenetics and evolution in R language. Bioinforma 20:289–290

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pohland G, Mullen P (2006) Preservation agents influence UV-coloration of plumage in museum bird skins. J Ornithol 147:464–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • QuestionPro (2009) <http://www.questionpro.com/> Survey Analytics LLC, Seattle, WA. Accessed 8 May 2013

  • Raffaele H (1989) Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Raffaele HA, Wiley J, Garrido O, Keith A, Raffaele J (2003) Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Ridgely RS, Gwynne JA (1989) A guide to the birds of Panama: with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Rusch DH, Phillip DD (1972) Broad-winged hawk nesting and food habits. Auk 89:139–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scudder RM, Burghardt GM (1983) A comparative study of defensive behavior in three sympatric species of water snakes (Nerodia). Z Tierpsychol 63:17–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Searcy YM, Caine NG (2003) Hawk calls elicit alarm and defensive reactions in captive Geoffroy’s marmosets (Callithrix geoffroyi). Folia Primatol 74:115–125

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seddon N, Tobias JA, Eaton M, Ödeen A (2010) Human vision can provide a valid proxy for avian perception of sexual dichromatism. Auk 127:283–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shettleworth SJ (1998) Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sibley DA (2000) The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A Knopf Inc, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles FG, Skutch AF (1989) A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca

    Google Scholar 

  • Stockman A, MacLeod D, Johnson N (1993) Spectral sensitivities of the human cones. J Optic Soc Am A 10:2491–2520

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stuart-Fox D, Moussalli A, Marshall N, Owens I (2003) Conspicuous males suffer higher predation risk: visual modeling and experimental evidence from lizards. Anim Behav 56:451–460

    Google Scholar 

  • Underwood R (1982) Vigilance behaviour in grazing African antelopes. Behaviour 79:81–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vorobyev M, Osorio D, Bennett AT, Marshall NJ, Cuthill IC (1998) Tetrachromacy, oil droplets and bird plumage colours. J Comput Physiol A 183:621–633

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Woodland DJ, Jaafar Z, Knight M (1980) The “pursuit deterrent” function of alarm signals. Am Nat 115:748–753

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zinner H (1985) On behavioral and sexual dimorphism of Telescopus dhara Forscal 1776 (Reptilia: Serpentes, Colubridae). J Herpetol Assoc Afr 31:5–6

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the UCLA Office of Instructional Development, and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology for partial support. We thank Greg Grether and Neil Losin for lending equipment and support for the spectrometry analyses, Kathy Molina at the UCLA Dickey Collection for generous assistance in lending and processing specimens, Kimball Garrett at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, David Willard at the Field Museum of Natural History, S. Cardiff and J. Remsen at the Museum of Natural Science at Louisiana State University for lending specimens. We also thank Rafe Boulon for facilitating our field research permits, the staff at Virgin Islands Environmental Resource Station (VIERS) for providing such great hospitality, and the students of the field biology quarter for taking plumage surveys. Thanks also to the Grether lab, Esteban Fernández-Juricic, and three anonymous reviewers for many valuable comments. An NSF Graduate Research Fellowship supported JPD during this study; DTB is supported by the NSF.

Ethical standards

This study was conducted under UCLA ARC Protocol no. 2000-147-31, and permits from the National Park Service (no. VIIS-2009-SCI-0028). All experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel T. Blumstein.

Additional information

Communicated by E. Fernandez-Juricic

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(DOC 250 kb)

ESM 2

(DOC 171 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Journey, L., Drury, J.P., Haymer, M. et al. Vivid birds respond more to acoustic signals of predators. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 67, 1285–1293 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-013-1556-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-013-1556-z

Keywords

Navigation