FIRST SONGS PROJECT

Even outside the breeding season, many species sing. Do they do so for territoriality, sexual attraction, or for other reasons? Is this behaviour uniform across the entire peninsula, or is it influenced by specific environmental and meteorological–climatic conditions? The PRIMI CANTI (First Songs) project, which starts on 1 December each year, aims to address these questions.

We aim to collect data on songs only, i.e. vocalizations attributable to territorial displays, therefore excluding alarm calls, contact calls, or calls given during migration. The “song” button with the musical note icon, available when entering data using the NaturaList app provided by Biolovision, does not automatically store data within the PRIMI CANTI project; therefore, we kindly ask you to follow the instructions below.

-          Select the project PRIMI CANTI from the “Project Code” drop-down menu, either in the NaturaList app or directly on a computer via the Ornitho.it website, every time a species is heard singing.

-          It is extremely important to record these songs whenever possible. As of 27 May 2025, we have a tool that allows this to be done easily, directly within NaturaList (see news).

-          At present, the species to focus on are the following: Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Blackcap, Great Tit and Serin, the same species monitored in previous surveys. This does not mean that other species heard singing should not be recorded. On the contrary, it is very important to do so, even for species that are known to sing in winter, such as the Robin, because these data are extremely useful for control and validation assessments.

-          For the selected species, we ask for an additional piece of information. In areas that you visit regularly, after selecting the PRIMI CANTI project from the drop-down menu, please add the note “not singing” to the presence record when no song is emitted. This is very important for defining the start dates of singing activity or for identifying purely episodic events.

-          The use of the “complete list” option is strongly recommended.

-          It is also very important that the time at which the song is heard is accurate. Therefore, if the record is entered later (e.g. through the website), please make sure to modify the time and report the correct listening time.

We remind you that the atlas codes must not be entered arbitrarily outside the periods automatically indicated by the platform. Some species sing even in mid-winter without actually breeding, such as Robin.

This project will continue over the years, as the data collected may be useful for assessing the effects of climate change.

The first analyses, referring to the periods December–January 2023–24 and 2024–25, have shown that:

In all species considered, the onset of the first song occurs earlier at lower latitudes.

All the species considered show a statistically significant positive trend with increasing urbanization.