On a long-haul flight, there’s nothing worse than being sat next to a chatty stranger.
But songbirds don’t seem to mind, as a new study suggests they are likely to ‘talk’ to other species as they migrate.
Last year, a team of scientists discovered that birds seem to ‘buddy up’ with other species at stopover sites during migration, but there was no evidence that different species pair up or communicate vocally on the wing.
But now it’s been found that the birds may even chat to gather important information about the journey they are on.
For their new study the researchers, from the University of Illinois, analysed more than 18,000 hours of recorded flight calls made over three years in eastern North America.
They used artificial intelligence (AI) to detect the signature flight calls of 27 different species. From this, they were able to measure how often certain calls occurred at around the same time.
Analysis revealed that different species appear to ‘talk’ while flying – especially those with similar wing lengths.
This is likely because these birds would fly at roughly the same speed, the researchers said, making it easier for them to communicate.
Last year, a team of scientists discovered that birds seem to ‘buddy up’ with other species at stopover sites during migration
A murmuration of migrating starlings is seen across the sky at a landfill site near Beersheba, Israel December 27, 2024
Birds which had similar calls were also more likely to ‘chat’ to each other, the researchers found.
Lead author Benjamin Van Doren said: ‘Species with similar wing sizes were more likely to associate, and wing length is directly linked to flight speed.
‘If you imagine two species flying at similar speeds because they have similar wings, then it’s much easier for them to stick together.
‘As for vocalisations, it is possible that species’ calls have converged over time because of this social link or that species that happen to give similar calls are simply more likely to gravitate towards each other.’
The team speculate that some songbird species who can’t rely on their parents to show them the way may instead rely on social ties with others to make the trek.
‘We can’t be sure what they’re saying, but birds might broadcast calls during flight to signal their species, age, and sex,’ Dr Van Doren added.
‘And we can certainly speculate that these flight calls could relate to navigation or finding suitable stopover habitat.’
The findings were published in the journal Current Biology.