Monty Python’s The News for Parrots reported that “no parrots were involved in an accident on the M1, when a lorry carrying high octane fuel collided…” But last week’s news offered less relief for Prothonotory warblers and their kin. A NewScientist bulletin titled “Raise my chick, or your eggs get it” reports the new discovery that Brown-headed cowbirds “trash” the nests of host species that don’t also raise eggs deposited by the parasitic cowbirds. In a mafia-style racket to do any cuckoo proud, these modest-looking North American song-birds keep a close eye on their warbler host’s nests. When researchers with the Illinois Natural History Survey simulated warbler betrayal by selectively removing cowbird eggs from artificial warbler nests, duped cowbirds soon retaliated, returning to the nest to eat or destroy the remaining eggs.

Data show that compliant hosts fledge more of their own chicks (average: 3) than do non-compliant ones (average: 1). Non-compliance is reportedly unusual—no wonder!

Python fans may also recall “part three of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ specially adapted for parrots by Joey Boy.” Clever psittacine linguistics deserve a blog of their own, but a new study from the University of Montana finds that nuthatches—sprightly little woodland birds—can also translate a foreign language: chickadee.

Chickadees (North America’s equivalent of the European tits) produce distinctive “seet” calls to warn of larger aerial predators, like great horned owls. Smaller, more agile predators—like sharp-shinned hawks—present a greater threat; these elicit the characteristic chick-a-dee-dee-dee call. The number of “dees” a chickadee affixes to the end of her call (up to 15) provides specific information about the type of predator, and also calls in other birds to mob the predator. A predator who’s been spotted first poses little immediate danger to these agile songsters, and mobbing tends to encourage them to leave. Earlier studies have documented the benefits of foraging in mixed-species flocks, whose enhanced collective vigilance leaves more time to concentrate on foraging. So it might stand to reason that these alert, vociferous birds learn to decode the specific meaning of others’ alarm calls.

It seems likely that the nuthatches’ calls contain similar amounts of information, and that European nuthatches and tits perform the same sorts of translations. I also suspect that this neat study is just the tip of the iceberg for interspecies avian communication in woodland habitats. And now, The News for Wrens….