Birds teach their babies to sing

Mother and babies in nest, photo by Ancheta Wis,  CC-BY 3.0

One of the reasons why birds sing in and around the nest is to teach their baby birds to sing. Bird songs provide a wide variety of survival benefits and it is critically important for baby birds to learn adult bird songs if they are to be successful and go on to raise families of their own. Although the idea of baby birds learning songs from their parents may seem a little far-fetched at first, the BBC reports that scientists have shown that baby birds who for one reason or another are raised by humans without their parents present are very often unable to sing as adults, but when played CD versions of adult bird songs for their species, the baby birds were able to learn the songs and to sing normally as adults.

• Main article: Why do birds sing?

MIT researchers say that baby birds who are first learning to sing go through many of the same learning steps as human children who are first learning to speak, according to an MSNBC report.  These steps include random babbling as they struggle to learn how to make the basic sounds of language well before they can string these sounds together into coherent words, or in the case of birds, into songs. The study showed that, unlike humans, birds are only able to learn new songs in the first 30-45 days of their life after which the portion of their brain responsible used during babbling and learning new vocal processes becomes inactive.

Other experimenters have examined the issue of baby birds learning to sing and have found that baby birds can be taught songs other than those native to their species so long as the notes are within the capability of their vocal hardware. A study by Gary Rose and his colleagues at the University of Utah, as reported by Livescience.com, was able to show that baby birds could be taught to sing backwards by playing them the notes of the adult song in reverse order. Of course, these birds would not be able to interact with others of their species in a wild setting after such training.

In the natural environment, birds mate in order to reproduce and to help the species survive. Since the ability to sing is an important survival trait in birds, the parent birds teach their babies to sing before they leave the nest so that they will be able to continue the cycle and contribute to the success of the species.