Orphaned baby birds are being played recordings of the dawn chorus in the hope that the sounds will teach them to sing in tune. Listening to the dawn chorus, including the calls of their own species, is thought to help to teach young birds the notes and calls they will need when they grow up.

Singing is a vital skill for many birds and knowing how to put on a good performance can be all important when proclaiming a territory or trying to attract a mate. For some it makes the difference between survival and an early death. Music lessons for chicks were introduced by the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA) after a study concluded that captive birds were likely to benefit from hearing songs by their own species.

“Birds learn to sing from their parents, so being reared in captivity can mean that they don't know how to sing properly,” said Tim Thomas, an RSPCA wildlife officer. “The ability to sing is extremely important to the males of most bird species because it is vital for them to form and then defend their own territory and find a mate. Female birds in many species choose a partner based on the way they sing.

“The study found that the majority of birds species benefit from being played birdsong - they listen to it and it helps them become good singers, which will in turn help them to survive when they are released.” Birdsong CDs are now being played twice daily at all RSPCA wildlife rescue centres where fledgelings are being cared for with the intention of releasing them back into the wild. Blackbirds that are released will be radio-tracked to determine how effective the music lessons have been.

The study into the effects of birdsong concluded that the ability to sing was hardwired into the fledgelings' brains but to master the skill each bird needs to hear performances by its parents and other adults. Crucially, the researchers found, young birds that are kept in isolation from adults of their species are likely to develop discordant or “abnormal songs” that are likely to put off potential mates. Females were found to sing less frequently than males but many showed a distinct preference to mate with the males that had the longest or most complex songs.

Researchers who conducted the study found that recordings of songs, although no match for live performances by the parent birds, did help most species of fledgelings to learn how to sing themselves. “Environmental conditions during the early life stages of birds can have significant effects on the quality of sexual signals in adulthood, especially song, and these ultimately have consequences for breeding success and fitness,” the researchers said in their study, which was funded by the RSPCA.

The dawn chorus is played to the rescued birds rather than single species recordings because the fledgelings are able to pick out the songs of their own species from the general din. The RSPCA's four wildlife rescue centres take in about 4,500 fledgelings ever year from April to August, accounting for about a third of all the animals they care for. On average, each bird will remain at a centre for 50 days before being released.

Members of the public were advised that, far from having been abandoned, many fledgelings seen on the ground were still being fed by their mothers. Mr Thomas said: “At this time of year we get thousands of fledgelings brought in by members of the public who see them on the ground, not able to fly, and assume they have been abandoned. But very often the mother is near by and is still feeding them. “The best thing to do is to leave them alone but watch from a distance and call the RSPCA only if you're sure they're in trouble.”

(Times, 16/06/2008)