Current Issue

Kelly, K. V., Branch, E. C., Hauber, M. E., & Gill, S. A. (2026). Generic and referential alarm calls differently alter nest vigilance at dusk and dawn in a common songbird. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 13(4), 354-366.  https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.13.04.02.2026

Prey attune to predation risk and use information obtained in the present to modify decision making into the future. Prey that produce referential alarm calls to different risks could use information from calls to alter future vigilance in threat-specific ways. Northern yellow warblers (Setophaga aestiva) give referential ‘seet’ alarm calls to denote brood parasitic brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) and generic ‘chip’ calls to predators and conspecifics around nests. We tested whether warblers differently adjust nest attendance in the future based on different alarm calls, predicting that laying females exposed to seet playbacks increase attendance at dusk and dawn (to interfere when cowbirds lay), whereas females exposed to chip playbacks generally avoid nests (so as not to reveal its location). Using camera traps, we quantified the proportion of photos with females on nests and the number of on-off bouts and combined them as nest attendance using principal components analysis. At dusk, females exposed to chip and seet calls spent a lesser proportion of time at nests than those exposed to silence, whereas at dawn females exposed to seet calls spent a greater proportion of time at nests than females exposed to chips or control.  Overall, at dusk females exposed to seet calls and silence showed higher nest attendance than those exposed to chips whereas at dawn females exposed to seet calls showed higher attendance than to silence, but not chips. Female nest attendance did not differ across treatments during afternoon observations. Females used alarm calls detected during the day to adjust behavior at dusk and the next morning. Yellow warblers appeared to recall information from past encounters to modify future decisions, suggesting a potential for advanced cognition in a fitness-relevant socio-ecological context.

Alarm calling, Brood parasitism, Episodic-like memory, Host-parasite interactions, Nest vigilance, Referential signaling, Northern yellow warblers