"Why Do Birds Sing": In-Person Badger Talk in Green Lake, WI

This is a free, in-person talk hosted on November 10, 2026 at 6:00 PM by Green Lake Bird and Nature Club in Green Lake, WI. No registration required. This talk will not be available virtually.
Scientists have known how birds sing for decades but why they sing is still a puzzle. Do they sing for pleasure? For love? To mark a territory? And how do birds know when and what to sing? This talk will explore these questions and also address what birds learn by listening to songs.
Lauren Riters is a Professor in the area of Behavioral Neuroscience in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Wisconsin Madison. She received a PhD in Psychology in the Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Program at Bowling Green State University where she studied how birds migrate and return home from distant locations. This was followed by postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Liege in Belgium and at The Johns Hopkins University where she began to study how and why birds sing.