Question: How do you understand the song of the birds?

Rupert Marshall answered on 9 Mar 2017:

Good question! We can’t understand the songs in the same way we understand our own language. Bird song is not a language like that. But we can see how birds react to songs and this helps us discover what the song might mean. If a bird starts singing more at the edge of its territory and there is another bird singing nearby it might be because they are arguing over the boundary. They might sing at each other first, then match each other’s song then overlap each other’s song as increasing levels of aggresssion. If song doesn’t sort it then they might fight. If I play a song over a loudspeaker and another bird comes down and starts pecking the loud speaker (yes, it happens!) then I know that the song has had an effect. Female behaviour can change if they like the song too, so you can find out which types of song they like by playing them to the females and watching how they react