Singing in a silent spring: Birds respond to a half-century soundscape reversion during the COVID-19 shutdown

Abstract

Songbirds reclaim favored frequencies When severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic lockdowns were instituted across entire countries, human activities ceased in an unprecedented way. Derryberry et al. found that the reduction in traffic sound in the San Francisco Bay Area of California to levels not seen for half a century led to a shift in song frequency in white-crowned sparrows (see the Perspective by Halfwerk). This shift was especially notable because the frequency of human-produced traffic noise occurs within a range that interferes with the highest performance and most effective song. Thus, our “quiet” allowed the birds to quickly fill the most effective song space. Science , this issue p. 575 ; see also p. 523