Can Birds Have Road Rage?

Birds with road rage? It’s real — just not the way you think.

In the Galápagos Islands, tiny yellow warblers are changing their songs in response to nearby roads and growing tourism. Researchers have discovered that these birds sing louder, faster, and more repetitively near traffic — a behavior scientists call vocal plasticity. It’s kind of like honking your horn in traffic, but for birds. While this may seem like a clever adaptation, it could come at a cost: increased aggression, stress, and confusion in bird social dynamics. This short video explores how even light traffic can alter animal behavior in surprising and possibly harmful ways.