Why birds love a good chat during migration - and how they 'buddy up' with a pal for the long journey

On a long-haul flight, there's nothing worse than being sat next to a chatty stranger. But songbirds don't seem to mind, as a new study suggests they are likely to'talk' to other species as they migrate. Last year, a team of scientists discovered that birds seem to'buddy up' with other species at stopover sites during migration, but there was no evidence that different species pair up or communicate vocally on the wing. But now it's been found that the birds may even chat to gather important information about the journey they are on. For their new study the researchers, from the University of Illinois, analysed more than 18,000 hours of recorded flight calls made over three years in eastern North America.