DOI: 10.5061/dryad.rn8pk0pqs
title: Data from: Frequency masking drives species-specific temporal avoidance strategies in boreal songbirds

description: Interference in acoustic signal transmission can impair communication, and
 many vocalizing species use various strategies to avoid signal masking.
 Past studies have focused primarily on the effect of anthropogenic noise
 and overlap in sound frequency range, leaving a gap in our understanding
 of how an individual’s vocal signal structure affects other animals in its
 acoustic community. Using playback experiments we tested whether five
 species of European boreal songbirds adjust their singing behavior to
 avoid overlap with three novel acoustic intruders from sub-Saharan Africa,
 each with a different song structure customized to each study species: (i)
 continuous songs of narrow, partially-masking frequency based on the study
 species’ peak frequency, (ii) non-continuous songs of broad, fully-masking
 frequency and (iii) continuous songs of broad, fully-masking frequency.
 All species showed evidence of temporal song avoidance only with
 competitors whose songs were broad-spectrum and completely overlapped in
 frequency range. The species differed in their behavioral response, either
 modifying the song rate, song duration, or the timing of their songs.
 These differences in behavior may be related to limitations imposed by the
 species-specific information encoded in different song parameters, and
 allow for predicting the consequences of changes in acoustic community
 structure.
description: # Data from: Frequency masking drives species-specific temporal avoidance
 strategies in boreal songbirds Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.rn8pk0pqs](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rn8pk0pqs)
 Corresponding author: Agata Staniewicz, email:
 [agata.staniewicz@gmail.com](mailto:agata.staniewicz@gmail.com) ##
 Description of the data and file structure Data were collected between 22
 May and 7 June 2023 in Ekopark Käringberget, northern Sweden. We focused
 on five forest songbird species: European pied flycatcher, common
 chaffinch, common chiffchaff, willow warbler, and goldcrest, locating 60
 individual males (12 per species) in their singing territories. Each bird
 was exposed to controlled playback experiment consisting of three
 non-native bird songs selected for frequency overlap: scaly-breasted
 illadopsis (*Illadopsis albipectus*), green-backed camaroptera
 (*Camaroptera brachyura*), and northern double-collared sunbird (*Cinnyris
 reichenowi*), and a silence control. Playbacks were broadcast in
 randomized 10-minute sessions, each composed of 5-second alternating
 intervals of song and silence, from two speakers placed near the bird’s
 singing location. We observed the birds to ensure they were alone in their
 territories and singing actively before playback began. Acoustic responses
 were recorded using shotgun and handheld microphones, along with
 autonomous recorders. All recordings were synchronized into three-channel
 .wav files and manually scanned using Raven Pro software. We used the
 selection table tool to mark every bird song, noted wheter it began during
 a playback song, and measured the song duration, noting whether it
 overlapped (&gt;50%) with a playback song. This threshold was chosen to
 identify cases where most of the bird's song—and the information it
 carries—would be acoustically masked. We analyzed a total of 9,361 bird
 songs. ### Files and variables #### File: dataset.csv **Description:** The
 file contains data on study species' song timing, duration and
 overlap during the experimental treatments. ##### Variables * Species:
 experimental study species; there are five: chaffich = *Fringilla
 coelebs*, chiffchaff = *Phylloscopus collybita*, goldcrest = *Regulus
 regulus*, flycather = *Ficedula hypoleuca*, willow_warbler = *Phylloscopus
 trochilus* * Observers: observer initials (authors) * Filename: unique
 experiment recording file name * Playback: species-specific playback
 combination ID * Date: date of the experiment (DD.MM.YYYY) * Time: time at
 the start of the experiment (HH:MM:SS) * GPS: unique assigned location ID
 point of the experiment * BeginTime: start time (in seconds) of song,
 measured as number of seconds passed from the start of the experiment *
 EndTime: end time (in seconds) of the song, measured as number of seconds
 passed from the start of the experiment * Begin: binomial values of
 whether the song began during the playback song (1) or silence (0) *
 Overlap: binomial values of whether the song overlapped by &gt;50% with
 the playback (1) or &lt;50% overlap (0) * treatmentOrder: order of
 treatment within the experiment * treatmentType: type of acoustic intruder
 treatment; the three main treatments are I = illadopsis (continuous narrow
 frequency song, partially masking), C = camaroptera (non-continuous broad
 frequency song, partially masking), R = sunbird (continuous broad
 frequency sog, fully masking); additionally K = control (silence), pre =
 songs recorder before the start of the experiment * gpsCoordinates:
 latitude and longitude coordinates (DMS) of the experiment 
 
 Data analyzed using R v4.2.1 with glmmTMB and emmeans v1.8.7 packages. 
 
 ### Changelog: December 2, 2025: Minor changes to README to add clarity
 on variable units, R packages, and corresponding author information.