Scientists have captured a beautiful, fast-moving songbird tap dancing using a high speed camera. Blue-capped cordon-bleu is a fast-moving dancer with some amazing moves. Researchers explained in Scientific Reports that both males and females can perform rapid dance moves during courtship. It is well-known that male songbirds are able to use a variety of dance and singing techniques in order to lure a female. Their study shows that multimodal dance displays are not limited to males. Blue-capped cordonbleu’s simultaneous step and bob. Image: Scientific Reports. The female also performs tap dances. In the case the blue-capped cordonbleu (a socially monogamous bird that lives in Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya and Somalia), both the male and female engage in courtship displays. These include songs, lots and bobbing and fast feet movements. Nao Ota (from Japan’s Graduate School of Life Science) and Masayo SOMA (from Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Ornithology) recorded courtship performances of the birds using a high speed camera. The tap-dance produced vibrations, and possibly non-vocal sounds. According to the authors, dance performance did not vary between men and women, but it varied across individuals. Both sexes increased their dancing performance when the mate was at the same perch. Blue-capped cordon bleu’s courtship display included multimodal behaviours, including visual and auditory, vocal and non-vocal sounds, and motor behaviors (singing, dancing, and stepping). This photograph shows one bird raising its feet as it dances the courtship tap dance. Image: Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. Masayo Soma, a BBC journalist said that it was a rare phenomenon for songbirds to produce novocal sounds. Manfred Gahr stated that some species make non-vocal sounds using their wings but don’t usually use their feet. It is possible that more birds do it but this has never been observed. Scientific Reports. 19 November, 2015. DOI: doi: 10.1038/srep16614. Video: Songbird’s fast tap dance Normal speed is too slow for humans to see the footwork. Related article: Male hummingbirds sing with their tail feathers.
High-speed camera captures lightning-speed songbird tapping dance
