Pairs of magpie-larks that duet with split-second timing are warning that they’ll really kick feathers if another bird attacks, according to new tests.
Recordings of precise duets alarmed other magpie-larks more than sloppy duets did, report Michelle Hall of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, Germany and Robert Magrath of the Australian National University in Canberra.