Editing Bird vocalization (section)

==Definition==
[[File:Contopus-virens-001.ogg|thumb|Eastern wood pewee: note the simple repetitive pattern of ascending and descending tones from a grounding note.]]

The distinction between songs and calls is based upon complexity, length, and context. Songs are longer and more complex and are associated with [[Territory (animal)|territory]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Boswall |first1=Jeffery |author-link1=Jeffery Boswall |title=Why do birds sing? |url=https://www.bl.uk/the-language-of-birds/articles/the-purpose-of-birdsong |website=The British Library |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129123226/https://www.bl.uk/the-language-of-birds/articles/the-purpose-of-birdsong |archive-date=29 January 2020}}</ref> and [[Bird#Breeding|courtship and mating]], while calls tend to serve such functions as [[Alarm signal|alarms]] or keeping members of a [[herd|flock]] in contact.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ehrlich |first1=Paul R. |first2=David S. |last2=Dobkin |first3=Darryl |last3=Wheye |name-list-style=amp |url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/SUFRAME.html |title="Bird Voices" and "Vocal Development" from Birds of Stanford essays |access-date=9 Sep 2008 |archive-date=3 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403192232/http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/SUFRAME.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Other authorities such as Howell and Webb (1995) make the distinction based on function, so that short vocalizations, such as those of pigeons, and even non-vocal sounds, such as the drumming of [[woodpecker]]s and the "[[Drumming (snipe)|winnowing]]" of [[snipe]]s' wings in display flight, are considered songs.<ref name=howell>{{cite book |last1=Howell |first1=Steve N. G. |first2=Sophie |last2=Webb |name-list-style=amp|title=A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-19-854012-0}}</ref> Still others require song to have syllabic diversity and temporal regularity akin to the repetitive and transformative patterns that define [[music]]. It is generally agreed upon in birding and ornithology which sounds are songs and which are calls, and a good field guide will differentiate between the two.

[[File:PipraWing.jpg|thumb|Wing feathers of a male [[club-winged manakin]], with the modifications noted by P. L. Sclater in 1860<ref>{{cite journal|title= List of Birds collected by Mr. Fraser in Ecuador, at Nanegal, Calacali, Perucho, and Puellaro, with notes and descriptions of new species|journal=Proc. Zool. Soc. London|author=Sclater, P. L.|year=1860|pages=83–97}}</ref> and discussed by Charles Darwin in 1871.<ref>{{cite book|author=Darwin, Charles|year=1871|url=https://archive.org/stream/descentofmansele02darw#page/65/mode/1up/|pages=65–66|title=The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. volume 2|publisher=John Murray|location=London|isbn=978-1-108-00510-4}}</ref> The bird produces sound with its wings.]]
Bird song is best developed in the [[order (biology)|order]] [[passerine|Passeriformes]]. Some groups are nearly voiceless, producing only [[percussive]] and [[rhythm]]ic sounds, such as the [[stork]]s, which clatter their bills. In some manakins ([[Pipridae]]), the males have evolved several mechanisms for mechanical sound production, including mechanisms for [[stridulation]] not unlike those found in some insects.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bostwick |first1=Kimberly S. |first2=Richard O. |last2=Prum  |s2cid=22278735 |name-list-style=amp|year=2005|title=Courting Bird Sings with Stridulating Wing Feathers |journal=Science|volume=309|issue=5735|page=736|doi=10.1126/science.1111701 |pmid=16051789}}</ref> The production of sounds by mechanical means as opposed to the use of the [[Syrinx (biology)|syrinx]] has been termed variously ''instrumental music'' by [[Charles Darwin]], ''mechanical sounds''<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia= A Dictionary of Birds |last1=Manson-Barr|first1=P. |last2=Pye |first2=J. D. |title=Mechanical sounds  |date=1985 |editor1-last= Campbell |editor1-first=Bruce |editor2-last=Lack |editor2-first=Elizabeth |publisher= Poyser |location=Staffordshire|isbn=978-0-856-61039-4 }}</ref> and more recently ''[[sonation]]''.<ref name="bostwick">{{cite journal|last1=Bostwick|first1=Kimberly S.|first2=Richard O.|last2=Prum|name-list-style=amp|year=2003|title=High-speed video analysis of wing-snapping in two manakin clades (Pipridae: Aves)|journal=The Journal of Experimental Biology|volume=206|pages=3693–3706|url=http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/206/20/3693|doi=10.1242/jeb.00598|pmid=12966061|issue=Pt 20|s2cid=8614009|doi-access=free|bibcode=2003JExpB.206.3693B |access-date=2007-05-31|archive-date=2010-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329002947/http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/206/20/3693|url-status=live}}</ref> The term ''sonate'' has been defined as the act of producing non-vocal sounds that are intentionally modulated communicative signals, produced using non-syringeal structures such as the bill, wings, tail, feet and body feathers.<ref name="bostwick"/>

Song is usually delivered from prominent perches, although some species may sing when flying. 

In extratropical [[Eurasia]] and [[the Americas]] almost all song is produced by male birds; however, in the tropics and to a greater extent the [[desert]] belts of [[Australia]] and [[Africa]] it is more typical for females to sing as much as males. These differences have been known for a long time<ref name="biological">{{cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=A. |title=The biological significance of bird song in Australia. |journal=Emu |date=1948 |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=291–315 |doi=10.1071/mu948291 |url=http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MU948291.htm |access-date=22 February 2022 |language=en |issn=1448-5540 |archive-date=27 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927165750/http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MU948291.htm |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Hartshorne">{{cite journal |last1=Hartshorne |first1=Charles |title=Some Biological Principles Applicable to Song-Behavior |journal=The Wilson Bulletin |date=1958 |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=41–56 |jstor=4158637 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4158637 |access-date=22 February 2022 |issn=0043-5643 |archive-date=22 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222201332/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4158637 |url-status=live }}</ref> and are generally attributed to the much less regular and seasonal climate of Australian and African arid zones requiring that birds breed at any time when conditions are favourable, although they cannot breed in many years because food supply never increases above a minimal level.<ref name="biological"/> With aseasonal irregular breeding, both sexes must be brought into breeding condition and vocalisation, especially duetting, serves this purpose. The high frequency of female vocalisations in the tropics, Australia and Southern Africa may also relate to very low mortality rates producing much stronger pair-bonding and territoriality.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Slater |first1=Peter J. B. |last2=Mann |first2=Nigel I. | year = 2004 | title = Why do the females of many bird species sing in the tropics? | journal = Journal of Avian Biology | volume = 35 | issue = 4| pages = 289–294 | doi=10.1111/j.0908-8857.2004.03392.x}}</ref>