Pacific Views

How Birds Learn Songs

Scientists have been studying how baby birds learn their songs and believe this gives them more insight in how humans learn to speak. NPR's Richard Harris had a wonderful audio report about how baby white crown sparrows learn their songs. What they have found is birds learn by putting together phrases, and not the entire piece, somewhat like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Listen to this report to hear a white crown sparrow sing it's classic song backwards.