Andrew Skeoch

And that is best achieved when a species group are, in acoustic terms, having their own little space to do that dawn singing.

And so as I move around the country, everywhere I go, I've come across a different genus population, different genus species of birds singing in the dawn.

And they're doing that to kind of differentiate themselves.

It's an acoustic differentiation geographically.

And I just think this is a really extraordinary thing.

And it explains why or it fits in with this understanding of the dawn chorus as being in negotiation of important relationships.

But it's such a neat way that they do it.

And to see that it actually moves them around the landscape is quite extraordinary.

There's a little coda to this story, which is that I thought that the yellow tufted honey eaters had disappeared from around our home.

And I was speaking to others locally who said, no, they're still in the landscape.

And I'd come across them out in the bush.

But I found where our local population of yellow tuft has gone to, they'd moved about 150 metres away into an adjoining gully line.

They're still there.

Smaller group, but yeah.

It's knowing a place, but it's also recognizing the importance of sound.

It's not just important to us that we listen and we recognize species and perhaps what they're doing, but to understand that communication for birds is absolutely pivotal to their lives.

And the requirements of communication, the way that that communication is undertaken, the purposes of it shape other behaviors.

So the sound actually tells you a lot about what that species is actually doing.

It's not just a

oh, there's a white-eared honey eater, and that's a good starting point.