New UBC research suggests bird songs isolate species

Two birds that look the same, but have songs so different they can’t recognize each other, should be considered distinct species, suggests new UBC research.

“Songs are important for birds and who they choose to mate with,” said Benjamin Freeman, a Banting postdoctoral fellow in the department of zoology at UBC. “Birds evolve different songs and we wanted to find out which populations are so different in song that they should be considered different species.”