Most of the sounds that we hear, especially from songbirds, are what we consider to be “songs.” These songs are typically loud, complex, and broadcast from the treetops because they are designed to impress females far and wide. Both males and females also use a variety of other sounds in their daily lives throughout the year, not just during the breeding season. We think of these other sounds as “calls,” sounds used in specific contexts to convey certain messages. When songbirds spot a flying hawk, for example, they often utter a “hawk alarm,” a high, thin whistle that for us is difficult to hear and for the hawk might be especially difficult to locate. In contrast, when songbirds flock around and harass (i.e., “mob”) a perched owl, they typically use harsh, noisy calls. As a paired female and male forage together, they might use soft, subtle notes to stay in contact, their bantering much like a quiet conversation that would be expected between partners. When songbirds encounter a predator at the nest, they use still other types of calls.
For most species, this distinction between songs and calls is straightforward. Almost all flycatchers and songbirds have identifiable songs and calls, for example, but some songbirds, such as the jays and crows as well as the waxwings, lack a typical “song.” Although a Northern Flicker does sing a typical wik-wik-wik-wik song, all woodpeckers also drum what might be considered a “mechanical song.” Woodcocks sing with their voices, but the noises they make with their wings could also be considered a song, and snipe “sing” with their tails. In short, almost all birds have some special sound that seems to be used to impress a mate or, secondarily, to defend a territory, and we can think of that sound as the “song”; all the other sounds a bird makes are considered its “calls.”
