Frequency masking drives species-specific temporal avoidance strategies in boreal songbirds

Interference in acoustic signal transmission can impair communication, and many vocalizing species use various strategies to avoid signal masking. Past studies have focused primarily on the effect of anthropogenic noise and overlap in sound frequency range, leaving a gap in our understanding of how an individual’s vocal signal structure affects other animals in its acoustic community. Using playback experiments we tested whether five species of European boreal songbirds adjust their singing behavior to avoid overlap with three novel acoustic intruders from sub-Saharan Africa, each with a different song structure customized to each study species: (i) continuous songs of narrow, partially-masking frequency based on the study species’ peak frequency, (ii) non-continuous songs of broad, fully-masking frequency and (iii) continuous songs of broad, fully-masking frequency. All species showed evidence of temporal song avoidance only with competitors whose songs were broad-spectrum and complete..., , # Data from: Frequency masking drives species-specific temporal avoidance strategies in boreal songbirds

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.rn8pk0pqs](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rn8pk0pqs)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data were collected between 22 May and 7 June 2023 in Ekopark Käringberget, northern Sweden. We focused on five forest songbird species: European pied flycatcher, common chaffinch, common chiffchaff, willow warbler, and goldcrest, locating 60 individual males (12 per species) in their singing territories. Each bird was exposed to controlled playback experiment consisting of three non-native bird songs selected for frequency overlap: scaly-breasted illadopsis (*Illadopsis albipectus*), green-backed camaroptera (*Camaroptera brachyura*), and northern double-collared sunbird (*Cinnyris reichenowi*), and a silence control. Playbacks were broadcast in randomized 10-minute sessions, each composed of 5-second alternating intervals of song and silence, from two spe...,