Squirrels Listen in to Birds' Conversations

Hearing casual chatter of birds after predator call reassures squirrels to come off high alert.

Bird calls are different when they feel safe to communicate the absence of danger or share their location. This “chatter” from multiple bird species could therefore be a useful cue to other creatures that there is no imminent threat.

To test this hypothesis, the researchers observed the behavior of 54 wild Eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in public parks and residential areas in Ohio in response to threat, which they simulated by playing back a recording of the call of a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), a common predator of both squirrels and small birds. They followed the predator’s call with a playback of either multi-species songbird bird chatter or ambient sounds lacking bird calls and monitored the behavior of each squirrel for 3 minutes.

Listening grey squirrel

Illustration based on the photograph (Emma C. Lucore ) by Marie V. Lilly (2019)