Birds Experience 'Road Rage' Akin To Humans Due To Traffic Noise, Study Shows

A fascinating new study has revealed that humans are not the only living being prone to road rage, owing to excessive traffic noises. Scientists have found that certain birds in the Galapagos behave aggressively around traffic noise as it drowns out their warning calls. The anger often results in some of the birds engaging in fights with their rivals.

The study, published in the journal Animal Behaviour, has been led by researchers at the Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and the Konrad Lorenz Research Centre at the University of Vienna. The researchers focused on yellow warblers, a songbird widespread in the archipelago, considered a natural living laboratory due to the presence of a large number of unique, endemic species.

For the study, researchers played bird songs from a speaker, simulating an intruder whilst simultaneously playing recorded traffic noise at 38 locations, populated by the yellow warblers on the islands of Floreana and Santa Cruz. Territories were either adjacent to the nearest road or at least 100 m away from it.

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The study findings showed that birds living in territories adjacent to roads increased their aggression levels with experimental noise compared to control, while birds living farther away from roads decreased their aggression levels.

“Birds use song during territorial defense as an aggressive signal. However, if external noise such as traffic interferes with the signaling, effectively blocking this communication channel, increasing physical aggression would be an appropriate response," said Dr Caglar Akcay, senior lecturer in Behavioral Ecology at ARU.

“If there was an actual bird instead of a speaker, that would mean...a challenge, essentially, and that could result in a physical fight,” added Dr Akcay.

The birds in both roadside and offroad habitats also ramped up the minimum frequency of their songs so they could be heard over the traffic noise. The researchers said the findings show the importance of species adaptability in conservation efforts and “developing strategies to mitigate the effects of noise pollution on wildlife.”