Blame the traffic! Bird songs drowned out by city noise
Looks like songbirds can blame it on the traffic, too. Scientists are suggesting that the noise level in cities may be leading to miscommunication among songbirds, leading to decreased diversity in urban areas.
(When Dr. Darren Proppe conducted the study in Canada, he wanted to know why birds in seemingly suitable environments within cities had lower than normal levels of diversity in songbirds. )
Dr. Darren Proppe’s team in Canada looked at 113 sites in Edmonton, which has a population over 800,000. They studied seven species that were native to the area, focusing on the correlation between noise and species abundance.
