There’s a kwirky 25 minute episode of Japanese nhk TV in ‘Darwin’s Amazing Animals’ series of Suzuki Toshitaka’s findings but only available till 5th of May;
direct link https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/4030076/
or the series Darwin's Amazing Animals | NHK WORLD-JAPAN
(It’s also interesting how Japan’s tit species (‘genus Parus’ pre2013 now in Paridae) look very similar to ours)
In autumn & winter they form mixed species flocks sometimes of 150
So a willow tit chirps dee-dee-dee= “gather” then flies to a pine tree to feed & the rest of flock follows
Other species have a different chirp for gather but they all know the others’ languages.
A Japanese tit’s high-pitched hee-hee-hee means hawk (at 7khz too high for a hawk to hear)
But they also have 2word sentences eg Pee-Tsu-Pee=be cautious,plus Jee-Jee-Jee (eg to mob a stuffed shrike)
Plus groups of tits taught their fledglings the words for a (stuffed) snake.
There’s more in
https://www.bbcearth.com/news/the-link-between-birdsong-and-language
and especially in
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/do-birds-have-language-180979629/
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I am sorry I missed Chris’s post and the date to watch it (5th May 2024) has now passed.
However, the extra links given were fascinating… as well as the news that tits can teach their young to recognise stuffed snakes. The natural world is a constant joy to encounter.
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