Richard Collins: Singing skills may be a sign of a 'good catch'

"What turned the hens on, the experiment showed, was not just the music itself, but the ability of a singer to repeat his recital accurately."

Male blue tit song is simultaneously selected for consistent repetition as well as for song diversity according to a new study

Love: roaring flames for a year, ashes for thirty — Giuseppe de Lampedusa in The Leopard

Birds are not just singers, they are also composers. A cock robin produces not one, but multiple songs. So does a blackbird. Individuals of most species have more than one musical score in their repertoire. Even the yellowhammer, uttering only a half dozen staccato notes, with a slight drop in pitch, can vary his performances. Developing a song requires energy and practice. Why then do birds seem to waste valuable resources creating what seem to be superfluous ones?