Does singing make birds feel happy?

Yesterday afternoon after the rain stopped I went for a walk in the woods. Along the path I was surrounded by the Ovenbird's emphatic "teacher, teacher, teacher". This was late into the breeding season when most of the other warblers were quietly foraging for food for their offspring.

Birds do look happy when they sing.

We know that birds live on a very tight energy budget. No wasted motions. Everything has to have a purpose for furthering survival and procreation, and  this holds true for emotions also. We sense a bird's anxiety when a predator approaches a nest or the anger when for example the Robin in my backyard  keeps chasing a Blue Jay through the trees away from her nest. But a feeling of happiness? Is it a luxury? Or a reward for a  behavior that serves a purpose in promoting survival?  Birds sing to attract mates or defend their territory.  But does the act of singing cause the bird to feel pleasure, or put in another way, does it make the bird feel happy?

Several years ago I observed a Mockingbird perched on a tall post singing his heart out. While singing he would  jump up, flap his wings and rise up several feet, drop back down, and do so again and again - a picture of pure exuberance!  He seemed to be jumping for joy - so much happiness! That this was part of part of the male's courtship display did not diminish it.

I unearthed an interesting study addressing the question of happiness. Any pleasurable action in animals, mammals as well as birds, is associated with a release of dopamine in the brain. A study of Zebra Finches has shown that singing increases dopamine release, but only while courting a female. Undirected singing does not.  So a male bird  that sings incessantly to keep out competing males is probably more likely to have an elevated level of the cortisol, not dopamine, and feels stress rather than pleasure.

Happy Birding!

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A World of Sparrows

Where I grew up in Germany there was only one kind of sparrow, the common domestic House Sparrow  which was ubiquitous and very social - just as they are here - nesting under roof shingles, in ivy growing over fences or houses, in trees and hedges. Sitting in an outdoor cafe you'd always have the company of sparrows picking up crumbs under the table or off your plate if you weren't looking.

However, when I went back to visit my mom and sister in Hamburg last year, I couldn't find any. They seemed to have vanished. I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been looking for the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, which in the USA is confined to a small area in the Midwest.  Trying to figure it out I did a search on Google and found that the House Sparrow, along with the Starling and the Eurasian Tree Sparrow,  had actually been placed on the Red List of endangered birds in the UK.  The list cited both long-term and short-term breeding decline, most likely due to loss of agricultural habitat.
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House Sparrow courting

Although they have disappeared  from the center of many cities, they are still present in most towns and villages. And that's were I eventually found them. I was visiting my cousin's farm to look for the Eurasian Tree Sparrow.  The ivy covering the old brick house was swarming with nesting House Sparrows, and the sought after Tree Sparrows were roosting in a tree behind the barn, where they had ready access to grain.

Eurasian Tree Sparrow with characteristic chestnut cap and black cheek patch

Eurasian Tree Sparrow chick and parent

Fall is the time for sparrows after most of the other songbirds have left for their winter quarters.  Most of them feed on the ground, in the grass and frequent brushy weedy habitats.  It is often difficult to get a good look at them, since the scatter as soon as you approach, fly low over the ground and plunge back into the vegetation

The White-crowned Sparrow is present in VT during their spring and fall migration. They breed in Arctic or alpine tundra. I think they are the most handsome of all our sparrows.

Immature White-crowned Sparrow



Immature White-crowned Sparrow

 

Adult White-crowned Sparrow



The White-throated Sparrow stays with us all year



American Tree Sparrow



American Tree Sparrow showing the characteristic "half and half" beak and the dot on the chest



Immature Swamp Sparrow. At first I thought this was a Lincoln's Sparrow, but was corrected by a  more knowledgeable birder.

Adult Swamp Sparrow in post-molt fresh feathers

The Song Sparrow often looks colorless and boring; so I was happy about the vivid colors in this photo 



Song Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow with characteristic yellow lores are abundant in our area.

The chipper Chipping Sparrow



Juvenile House Sparrows on their  home turf in a barn window



 

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Related articles

• RSPB draws up list of British birds in urgent need to protection (telegraph.co.uk)

Birds of Summer....

It's the time for tending, feeding and rearing the young.

I photographed these Bobolinks last year. Haven't seen any yet this year, but then their meadow was cut much earlier this year, leaving no time to rear the young. Bobolinks are threatened with loss of high grass habitat.  Farmers are faced with a quandary: cutting late allows these birds to flourish but it diminishes the nutrient and monetary value of the hay.

Lastly here are a couple of juvenile Barn Swallows

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