News in Brief Animals

Why some birds sing elaborate songs in the winter

Male great reed warblers may be practicing how to woo

Marjorie Sorensen with birds in Zambia

WHY SING IN WINTER  Marjorie Sorensen, tracking bird movements in a seasonally flooded valley in Zambia (left), is studying why great reed warblers (one shown, right) overwintering there sing so much.

L-R: Jason Boyce, M. Sorensen

By Susan Milius

Male birds’ puzzling off-season singing in winter could be practice for flirting in spring.

Europe’s great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) and some other male long-distance migrants sing extensively when overwintering in sub-Saharan Africa, says Marjorie Sorensen, now at Goethe University in Frankfurt.