Comparative analysis of hissing calls in five tit species

Abstract

Nest predation often leads to breeding failure, and is an important selective pressure of natural selection that affects nest defense behavior in birds. Many tit species give a hissing call for nest defense, but there are few studies on interspecific variation in hissing calls and whether these are related to nest predation and nesting success. In this study, we compared the hissing calls of five tit species including cinereous tit (Parus cinereus), marsh tit (Poecile palustris), varied tit (Sittiparus varius), willow tit (Poecile montanus), and coal tit (Periparus ater) in Saihanba National Forest Park in Hebei and Xianrendong National Nature Reserve in Liaoning. In Saihanba of Hebei, the proportion of individuals giving a hissing call and nest predation were similar among three tit species (cinereous, varied, and marsh tits). In Xianrendong of Liaoning, the proportion of cinereous, varied, and marsh tit individuals giving a hissing call differed significantly but nest predation did not. Cinereous and varied tits showed no differences in clutch size, date of the first egg, nest predation and nesting success between individuals that gave and those that did not give a hissing call. These results indicated that for tit species that breed in nest boxes distributed within the same area, there is interspecific variation in hissing calls, but these are not significantly correlated with nest predation risk.

A case report of an Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) attacking an incubating adult and depredating the eggs of the Japanese tit (Parus minor)

“…However, hissing calls are not always successful enough to deter the predator away, because the efficiency of hissing calls relies on the fact that predators respond to hisses (Wickler, 2013 ). For example, the rate of nest predation of Japanese tits, willow tits ( Poecile montanus ), and coal tits ( Periparus ater ) that hissing and nonhissing is similar in Saihanba National Forest Park in China (Zhang et al, 2020 ). Similarly, we also found that the hissing calls of Japanese tit did not work for the jay in our observation.…”

Calls of nestling and fledgling Marsh Tits Poecile palustris

“…This call has not previously been recorded in Marsh Tits, and perhaps only in Black-capped Chickadees among the parids (Clemmons 1995). The squawk call is similar to a very short version of the defensive 'hissing call', used by Marsh Tits and other tits to repel predators, consisting of a broad frequency 'white noise' sound (Zub et al 2017, Zhang et al 2020. A hiss-type call has also previously been reported from 15-day-old Marsh Tit nestlings in response to a perceived threat (Broughton 2005).…”

“…The expansion of digital sound recording in recent decades, and the availability of software to easily analyse and display it visually as sonograms (or spectrograms), has enabled a massive increase in the number and variety of sound recordings of birds, as can be found in online databases such as xeno-canto (www.xeno-canto.org). These developments have expanded the documented repertoire of the Marsh Tit since Cramp & Perrins (1993), to include fledgling begging calls (Broughton 2009) and the 'hissing' defensive call of incubating or brooding females within the nest (Zub et al 2017, Zhang et al 2020).…”