My general research interests are in animal behavior and behavioral ecology. My specific interests are in vocal communication and the development of bird song.
Song birds learn to sign.
Young males memorize the songs of adults and then produce imitations of these songs from memory weeks to months later. This cultural transmission of song often results in song dialects. I am currently comparing several subspecies of the white-crowned sparrow that differ in their annual cycle and in whether or not they form song dialects. My goal is to relate differences among populations in the process of song learning to differences in the annual cycle and in the spatial pattern of song variation. Selection-based learning in bird song development.