Do birds have language?

Answer 1

Yes, take crows for example...

CROW VOCALIZATIONS

Assembly Call (1)

Simple Scolding Call (1)

Modified Scolding Call (1)

Alert or Warning Call (1)

Dispersal or Alarm Call (1)

Distress Call (1)

Pre-mortality or Death Call (1)

Defensive Threat Calls (1)

Frustration Notes (1)

Immature Hunger and Feeding Call (1)

Adult Food Call (1)

Announcement Call (1)

Contact Call (1)

Duet Notes (1)

Courtship Vocalizations (1)

Juvenile Notes (1)

Contentment Notes (1)

Rattling Notes (1)

Wow-Wow Notes (1)

Carr-Carr Notes (1)

Whisper Notes (1)

Coo Notes (1)

Organ Notes (1)

Woo-ah Notes (1)

C.b. pascuus Screams (1)

Ordinary Cawing (1)

Mimicry (1)

The most obvious characteristics of the American crow are that it is big, black, and makes a lot of noise. The most obvious sound that crows make is the one written in English as caw. Caws may be long or short, loud or relatively soft, given singly or in sequences, made by one bird alone or by two or more birds under a variety of circumstances.

We also know that the caws of crows can sound different to human listeners. Within the same group of crows in a limited territory, there can be considerable variation in how the caws sound to a listener, and it has also often been noted that crows in different parts of the United States sound different from each other.

In addition to the distinctive caws, crows also make a variety of other sounds including, but not limited to, imitations of sounds of other species, including elements of human speech. Of particular interest is a whole variety of other crow vocalizations that don't fit into the above categories, are fairly low volume and may be used by one crow alone or among a group of crows.

Observers over the centuries have noted that crows use specific sounds under specific circumstances. Alarm calls, assembly calls, distress calls, and many others have been noted. One problem in interpreting these calls, however, has been the fact that different groups of crows, belonging to the same species but in different geographical areas, may not use or understand all of the same calls.

Hubert and Mable Frings (1959) noted, for example, that American eastern crows that breed in Pennsylvania and winter in the southern states among fish crows will respond to the distress call of the French jackdaw, a related bird not native to any portion of their range. Eastern crows that breed in Maine and apparently never mix with other crows, however, do not react to the jackdaw calls.

Bernd Heinrich, in Ravens in Winter states the following, which seems equally true for the American crow as the Common Raven.

"We have hardly begun to decipher the language of the raven. Its dictionary so far contains but a few 'words'. Perhaps our analysis has been too coarse-grained to catch the meanings. Our research has been something like that of aliens from outer space who make sonograms of human vocalizations under different situations - eating, playing, loving, fighting, etc. Certain differences noted in frequency, intonation, and loudness are correlated with feelings and emotions. But human sounds convey much more, and perhaps ravens' do, too."

Our challenge is to put ourselves in the place of those "aliens from outer space" and solve the immensely difficult problem of how to communicate with another intelligent species.

Many birds can even learn the language (to a certain extent) of other birds like an alarm call and will understand its meaning and react to it... like crows responding to Jackdaw calls and interpreting the meaning.

Answer 2

I believe that I read somewhere that birds of a given species use different "bird calls" in widespread areas (countries?) which qualify as foreign languages.

"Populations of the same species of birds having different songs are song races; each variation in a song is a dialect. The white-crowned Sparrow is well-known for having many song races and dialects. Geographic variation in song is very common. But within different populations of the same species, the song is more stereotyped (less variable) when there are other species present with similar songs. But when no other species with similar songs are present, there is more variation in the song within a population of one species. More variation is not only allowed, but it helps the recognition of single individuals. "

Answer 3

the language of the birds was the first spoken language by man.

they seem to understand what the other ones are saying in my neighborhood.

Answer 4

I think it would be an exaggeration to say that they have "language." They definitely have communication, though. Different tones and patterns of calls would signify different things, such as seeking a mate, protecting territory, calling to young, and so forth.

Answer 5

of course birds have a language
soso se sa means hi every body lol

Answer 6

yes they do , watch them closely. If I go near a nest the Mama will start yelling and soon the papa comes too and yells the same to me. When I put out the food there is a concert and they come down for the food.

Answer 7

A very basic language.

Answer 8

yes they do they have a language...it might be a body language or some sounds they make to communicate ...

Answer 9

all birds sound the same anyplace you bypass. She in basic terms hears different reason she is distant places. Now that i've got been given the standards right here is the certainty. different animals sound different in different places. i think of they're frequently different animals tho. Like frogs sound different in Puerto Rico than right here. right here they say "ribbit" there they say "ko qui" very weird and wonderful. yet they're probly different frogs that we don't have right here. achieveable there are different species of cockerels. those in romania can sound different than those we've right here

Answer 10

Yes, but it's very primitive. All they can say with their chirps is "My tree," "danger," "feed me," and "want to mate," but their chirps do have meaning, so it counts as a language, though a very crude one.