Individual-specific associations between warble song notes and body movements in budgerigar courtship displays.

Complex behavioral sequences such as courtship displays are often multimodal, and coordination between modalities is critically important. In learned and variable behavioural sequences such as songs, individual variability may also extend to multimodal coordination and the associations between modalities. However, individual variability in complex multimodal sequences and in coordination between distinct behaviours remains underexplored.

Higher-order dialectic variation and syntactic convergence in the complex warble song of budgerigars.

Dialectic signatures in animal acoustic signals are key in the identification of and association with group members. Complex vocal sequences may also convey information about behavioral state, and may thus vary according to social environment. Some bird species, such as psittaciforms, learn and modify their complex acoustic signals throughout their lives.