The Mystery of Birdsong

Have you ever wondered how birds learn to sing such beautiful songs? And why they produce so many different types of vocalizations? David Lukas will help answer some of these questions and share his insights into the magical world of birdsong. We'll learn about how birds produce sounds and the ways that scientists study the vocalizations of birds as diverse as Marsh Wrens and thrushes. Then, with these tools, we can explore the variety of social behaviors that explain common bird vocalizations, including how adult birds teach their chicks to sing and how birds divide up their territories with different kinds of songs. This program will forever change the way you think about birdsong.

Speaker: David Lukas is a freelance naturalist and the author of five books, including Sierra Nevada Natural History and Wild Birds of California. Born in Oregon, he has been living in the Sierra Nevada and leading bird programs in California for nearly 20 years. His newest book, Sierra Nevada Birds, is the first comprehensive guide to the status, life history, and distribution of all the birds that occur in the Sierra Nevada