The Rockefeller University Field Research Center Song Library

Song recordings and song imitation from Millbrook FRC

The Rockefeller University Field Research Center Song Library

Here is a dropbox link to the song library

The library currently includes recordings from 280 birds, including 160 tutor-pupil pairs. Each bird was placed singly in a sound attenuation chamber, and its vocal activity was recorded continuously over one week using Sound Analysis Pro. In addition to recording undirected songs, most birds were also recorded singing female directed and male directed songs. The library is organized in folders as follows:

Recording cohorts: Each cohort includes 8 zebra finch males (Box 1, Box 2, ..., Box 8), recorded simultaneously over a week. 

UD: undirected songs and other vocalizations from a single bird

Epoch: Morning epoches of undirected songs from a single bird

FD/FD1/FD2: Female directed singing and vocalization during 1h courtship. Most males were introduced to one female on day 1 -- FD1a. Again to the same females on day 7 -- FD1b.  Immediately after that, birds were introduced to a second females for an additional hour -- FD2

MxMy: Male directed vocalizations: here recordings are a mix of two males that were placed together, you should ignore the name of the birds in these folders. Instead, males identity is the number of box in the cohort. E.g., M1M2 means the first and second birds in the cohort. We placed males in pair in the following order: 

1. Males in even boxes  were moved to odd boxes e.g., M1M2. Note that here M1 is singing in his home cage, whereas M2 is the guest. 

2. Males were then switched from their home cages into a new pair. E.g., in boxes 1-4 we placed in box 1 M2 & M3; in box 3 we placed M1 & M4

All song recording data generated at the Rockefeller University Field Center Colony between July 2018 - Aug 2019, including songs from 160 tutor-pupil pairs. Most recorded birds are breeding males, many of them are still alive at this time (Mach 2021).