The Sound of Birds : Amazing Vocalization of Birds - Part 1

Bird sounds

Recording the sounds of birds is one of the most exiting adventure for the ornithologists, birds of various zones have different types of sounds, here is the compilation of sound recording of:
a) Great Think Knee - Ranthambore National Park
b) Gret Francolin - Ranthambore National Park
c) White-rumped shama - Eastern Ghats (Odisha)
d) Red-vented bulbul - Eastern Ghats (Odisha)

stay tuned for more compilation of interesting bird sounds.

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BIRD VOCALISATION (Wikipedia)

Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizations) are distinguished by function from calls (relatively simple vocalizations).

FUNCTION

Scientists hypothesize that bird song has evolved through sexual selection, and experiments suggest that the quality of bird song may be a good indicator of fitness. Experiments also suggest that parasites and diseases may directly affect song characteristics such as song rate, which thereby act as reliable indicators of health. The song repertoire also appears to indicate fitness in some species. The ability of male birds to hold and advertise territories using song also demonstrates their fitness.

Communication through bird calls can be between individuals of the same species or even across species. Birds communicate alarm through vocalizations and movements that are specific to the threat, and bird alarms can be understood by other animal species, including other birds, in order to identify and protect against the specific threat. Mobbing calls are used to recruit individuals in an area where an owl or other predator may be present. These calls are characterized by wide-frequency spectra, sharp onset and termination, and repetitiveness that are common across species and are believed to be helpful to other potential "mobbers" by being easy to locate. The alarm calls of most species, on the other hand, are characteristically high-pitched, making the caller difficult to locate.

Individual birds may be sensitive enough to identify each other through their calls. Many birds that nest in colonies can locate their chicks using their calls. Calls are sometimes distinctive enough for individual identification even by human researchers in ecological studies.

Many birds engage in duet calls. In some cases, the duets are so perfectly timed as to appear almost as one call. This kind of calling is termed antiphonal duetting. Such duetting is noted in a wide range of families including quails, bushshrikes, babblers such as the scimitar babblers, some owls and parrots. In territorial songbirds, birds are more likely to countersing when they have been aroused by simulated intrusion into their territory. This implies a role in intraspecies aggressive competition.

Sometimes, songs vocalized in post-breeding season act as a cue to conspecific eavesdroppers. In black-throated blue warblers, males that have bred and reproduced successfully sing to their offspring to influence their vocal development, while males that have failed to reproduce usually abandon the nests and stay silent. The post-breeding song therefore inadvertently informs the unsuccessful males of particular habitats that have a higher likelihood of reproductive success. The social communication by vocalization provides a shortcut to locating high quality habitats and saves the trouble of directly assessing various vegetation structures.

BIRD LANGUAGE

The language of the birds has long been a topic for anecdote and speculation. That calls have meanings that are interpreted by their listeners has been well demonstrated. Domestic chickens have distinctive alarm calls for aerial and ground predators, and they respond to these alarm calls appropriately. However, a language has, in addition to words, grammar (that is, structures and rules). Studies to demonstrate the existence of language have been difficult due to the range of possible interpretations. For instance, some have argued that in order for a communication system to count as a language it must be "combinatorial", having an open ended set of grammar-compliant sentences made from a finite vocabulary. Research on parrots by Irene Pepperberg is claimed to demonstrate the innate ability for grammatical structures, including the existence of concepts such as nouns, adjectives and verbs. In the wild, Black-capped Chickadees innate vocalizations have been rigorously shown to have combinatorial language. Studies on starling vocalizations have also suggested that they may have recursive structures.

The term bird language may also more informally refer to patterns in bird vocalizations that communicate information to other birds or other animals in general.