title: Moonlight makes owls more chatty.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lunar cycles seem to affect many of the rhythms, temporal patterns and behaviors of living things on Earth. Ambient light is known to affect visual communication in animals, with the conspicuousness of visual signals being largely determined by the light available for reflection by the sender. Although most previous studies in this context have focused on diurnal light, moonlight should not be neglected from the perspective of visual communication among nocturnal species. We recently discovered that eagle owls Bubo bubo communicate with conspecifics using a patch of white throat plumage that is repeatedly exposed during each call and is only visible during vocal displays.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here we provide evidence that this species uses moonlight to increase the conspicuousness of this visual signal during call displays. We found that call displays are directly influenced by the amount of moonlight, with silent nights being more frequent during periods with no-moonlight than moonlight. Furthermore, high numbers of calling bouts were more frequent at moonlight. Finally, call posts were located on higher positions on moonlit nights.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results support the idea that moon phase affects the visual signaling behavior of this species, and provide a starting point for examination of this method of communication by nocturnal species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, C.S.I.C., Seville, Spain. penteriani@ebd.csic.es
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Penteriani
authors.forename: María del Mar
authors.initials: Mdel M
authors.lastname: Delgado
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Campioni
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lourenço
mesh_terms: D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D008027:Light; D020305:Strigiformes / Q000502:physiology*