Avian communication networks: how audible are mountain chickadee males during dawn signalling?

My thesis investigates how urban noise influences the relative audibility of songs to female Mountain Chickadees (Poecile gambeli), who assess male signalling at dawn while roosting within the nest cavity. Over two breeding seasons, I monitored Mountain Chickadees breeding on an urban/rural interface in Kamloops, BC, Canada. I broadcast typical Mountain Chickadee songs, with or without added noise, towards recently unoccupied nests while simultaneously re-recording these songs with microphones outside and inside the nest box to determine the relative audibility in relation to both distance and presence/absence of noise. I then tracked individual males’ behaviour and movement during dawn signalling, while passively recording their songs with microphones — outside and inside the nest box — to determine the relative audibility of signals from the perspective of the roosting female. The relative audibility of songs decreased with increasing distance from the nest, which was compounded by increased urban noise. During dawn signalling, urban males respond to these effects by remaining closer to the nest, resulting in their songs being more audible within the nest than their rural counterparts. Overall, ambient noise and distance had an interactive effect on relative audibility of songs, suggesting complex dynamics of communication networks that may result in a trade-off, where males are forced to prioritize directing their signals to either their social mates or neighbours.