Research

Research area

Animal behavior, behavioral ecology

Research interests

Animal communication, especially songbird courtship display and its function

Study species

Cordon-bleus (other names: blue waxbills) Uraeginthus spp.

Red-cheeked cordon-bleu

Uraeginthus bengalus

Past study species

Blue-capped cordon-bleu

Uraeginthus cyanocephalus

Java sparrows

Lonchura oryzivora

Publications

1. Ota N, & Soma M (2014)

Age‐dependent song changes in a closed‐ended vocal learner: elevation of song performance after song crystallization.

Journal of Avian Biology, 45(6): 566-573.

DOI: 10.1111/jav.00383

2. Ota N, Gahr M & Soma M (2015)

Tap dancing birds: mutual multimodal courtship display of males and females in a socially monogamous songbird.

Scientific Reports, 5: 16614.

DOI: 10.1038/srep16614

3. Ota N, Gahr M & Soma, M (2017)

Songbird tap dancing produces non-vocal sounds.

Bioacoustics, 26(2), 161-168.

DOI: 10:1080/09524622.2016.1231080

4. Ota N, Gahr M & Soma, M (2018)

Couples showing off: Audience promotes both male and female multimodal courtship display in a songbird.

Science Advances, 4(10), eaat4779.

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat4779

​Research