If you're wondering, "Why do fools fall in love?" you've come to the wrong Web site. But if you want to know, "Why do birds sing?" then read on!
Birds sing for the same reason that humans talk: to communicate. This doesn't mean that communication is the same across all members of the bird kingdom. In fact, most birds only pay attention and respond to songs from birds of their own kind. As you can probably tell from any walk in the woods, different species have different-sounding songs. Researchers consider the woodpecker's tree-tapping to be yet another form of birdsong, and some birds "sing" by creating vibrations with their wings.
In talking about bird sounds, ornithologists will denote a difference between a song and what are commonly called chirps and tweets. Chirps and tweets are shorter in duration, whereas songs are repetitive, louder, more intricate, and last several seconds.
Scientists are discovering more and more just how intricate birdsongs are. For example, in some species there's a song for "I'm your neighbor" (meaning a nearby bird with its own, distinct property that means no harm) and a different song for "I'm a stranger." According to the Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, the red-eyed Vireo may sing more than 20,000 different songs in a day. Others, like the Henslow's Sparrow, sound like a broken record; they have just one song in their repertoire.
Bird singing usually has to do with what time of year it is. In the spring, when you hear birdsongs more frequently, male birds are out and about picking what their "home base" will be for the rest of the year. They sing to create a sort of audible property line. After that, they will sing a different tune to attract a female mate to their home. Then it's back to singing as a way of keeping others out. In fact, "keep out" songs used to defend a bird's territory are probably one of the most-performed birdsongs among many species.
Scientists have proven all this by placing speakers in trees and broadcasting different birdsongs. They have found that, when one distinct birdsong is played, the result is that female birds come by; that song, therefore, was clearly a mating song. When a "keep out" birdsong was played, male birds of that species were more likely to stay away. And when a speaker was placed within a male bird's territory and broadcast another male bird's song, the territorial bird sometimes even attacked the speakers!
Birds sing for the same reason that humans talk: to communicate. This doesn't mean that communication is the same across all members of the bird kingdom. In fact, most birds only pay attention and respond to songs from birds of their own kind. As you can probably tell from any walk in the woods, different species have different-sounding songs. Researchers consider the woodpecker's tree-tapping to be yet another form of birdsong, and some birds "sing" by creating vibrations with their wings.
In talking about bird sounds, ornithologists will denote a difference between a song and what are commonly called chirps and tweets. Chirps and tweets are shorter in duration, whereas songs are repetitive, louder, more intricate, and last several seconds.
Scientists are discovering more and more just how intricate birdsongs are. For example, in some species there's a song for "I'm your neighbor" (meaning a nearby bird with its own, distinct property that means no harm) and a different song for "I'm a stranger." According to the Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, the red-eyed Vireo may sing more than 20,000 different songs in a day. Others, like the Henslow's Sparrow, sound like a broken record; they have just one song in their repertoire.
Bird singing usually has to do with what time of year it is. In the spring, when you hear birdsongs more frequently, male birds are out and about picking what their "home base" will be for the rest of the year. They sing to create a sort of audible property line. After that, they will sing a different tune to attract a female mate to their home. Then it's back to singing as a way of keeping others out. In fact, "keep out" songs used to defend a bird's territory are probably one of the most-performed birdsongs among many species.
Scientists have proven all this by placing speakers in trees and broadcasting different birdsongs. They have found that, when one distinct birdsong is played, the result is that female birds come by; that song, therefore, was clearly a mating song. When a "keep out" birdsong was played, male birds of that species were more likely to stay away. And when a speaker was placed within a male bird's territory and broadcast another male bird's song, the territorial bird sometimes even attacked the speakers!
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