Big little liars
“It’s the start of the rains in southern Zambia and a small, glossy black finch is singing incessantly from
the top of an exposed tree. The song is mostly a hurried ramble of chatters and scratchy warbles, but
occasionally the bird intersperses trills and tinkling notes that sound nearly identical to those of a local
species of firefinch. This seemingly inconsequential observation hints at a fascinating evolutionary
story unfolding in woodlands and savannas throughout Africa.”