Filmmakers Blog. May 21. Hans Slabbekoorn near Lieden Netherlands.

Dr. Hans Slabbekoorn has a lab at the Institute Biology Lieden, where he studies the impact of urban noise on songbird songs and communication.

Hans rides his bike around between his study sites, and given that fact that I love Dutch bikes, I couldn’t resist filming his interview with him perched on his bike!  We are in a park near a busy highway, where Hans conducts his research. Here, birds like the Great Tit compensate for the urban noise by singing at a higher frequency — one that can be heard about the dull roar of cars. But does this tonal shift makes the males less attractive to females? A potentially very sad love song indeed!