Data from: Hatching late in the season requires flexibility in the timing of song learning

Most songbirds learn their songs from adult tutors, who can be their father or other male conspecifics. However, the variables that control song learning in a natural social context are largely unknown. We investigated whether the time of hatching of male domesticated canaries has an impact on their song development. Average age difference between early and late hatched males was 50 days with a maximum of 90 days. Song activity of adult tutor males decreased significantly during the breeding season. While early hatched males were exposed to tutor songs for on average the first 99 days, late hatched peers heard adult song only during the first 48 days of life. Remarkably, although hatching late in the season negatively affected body condition, no differences between both groups of males were found in song characteristics either in autumn or in the following spring. These data suggest that late hatched males must have undergone accelerated song development. Furthermore, the limited adult tutor song exposure did not affect song quality.绝大多数鸣禽都会向成年鸣唱导师学习鸣唱，这类导师既可以是它们的亲生父亲，也可以是其他同种雄性个体。然而，在自然社会情境中调控鸣唱学习的各类变量，目前仍未被完全探明。本研究旨在探究雄性家养金丝雀的孵化时间是否会对其鸣唱发育产生影响。早孵化与晚孵化雄性个体的平均年龄差为50天，最大差值可达90天。成年导师雄性的鸣唱活跃度在繁殖季期间显著降低。早孵化雄性在生命初期平均有99天的时间可接触到导师鸣唱，而晚孵化的同龄个体仅在生命前48天能听到成年鸣唱。值得注意的是，尽管季节末期孵化会对个体身体状态产生负面影响，但两组雄性个体的鸣唱特征在秋季及次年春季均未表现出显著差异。上述数据表明，晚孵化雄性大概率经历了加速的鸣唱发育过程。此外，有限的成年导师鸣唱暴露时长并未对鸣唱质量产生影响。