Lost voices: uncovering female birdsong
By Kerry Williams
Communications Officer - Conservation
Historically, it was thought that only male songbirds sang. However, research conducted in the last ten years has proved this theory wrong.
In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin wrote “all those who have attended to the subject, believe that there is the severest rivalry between the males of many species to attract, by singing, the females.”
It is true that male birds sing to attract mates and to defend territories. This is the foundation of Darwin’s theory of sexual selection; more impressive males have a better chance of intimidating rivals and attracting a mate, and females are drawn to the most impressive singer. It’s not just the plot of Grease; ‘male beats male and gets the girl with an explosive final number’ is a story that happens throughout the natural world. But what is lacking from the narrative is that females also sing. They may do so from lower down in the foliage, less frequently and more quietly, more Sandra D than Danny, but, as David Attenborough said on the topic “sing, she does”.
Using song, females compete for food, for nesting sites and for mates, and their song can be just as melodic as that of the males. In fact, research in the last ten years has shown that globally, the majority of female birds sing; up to 70%. So, why is the story skewed?
Made you look
Male plumage is often brighter and more dramatic. Their song is often belted out from atop a perch, more obvious and exciting. Therefore, females are studied less, therefore we know less, creating not just a data gap, but an ancestral chasm. Although known that female songbirds made alarm calls and communicate with chicks, it was considered that any recorded song was an ecological or evolutionary oddity; an outlier. As a result of this historical male-biased data collection, female birdsong is largely absent from biological data records, perpetuating the cycle.
Male song is such an underlying observation for the theory of sexual selection that it has even become a feature of identification; in the case of monomorphic species, meaning where males and females look the same, singing females have been misidentified as male, thus perpetuating the belief that only the males sing. It’s not that they didn’t sing before, it’s just that no one was listening.
It’s where you’re listening
Historically, more species data was collected, published and made available from Europe and North America, areas of typically temperate or mild climate which welcome migrant birds during summer months. After a hefty commute across an ocean or two, along with hundreds of competitors, males set rapidly to claim a mate and territory in their new breeding grounds, loudly. There is less of a need for females to sing during breeding season, and bigger voices present to drown them out if they do.
In the tropics, however, where birds are less likely to be migrant species, there is little requirement for such desperation, more opportunity for social communication, and higher diversity of song between the sexes. That’s not to say that female song is confined to these areas, and research has now shown that female bird song is globally widespread. If you want to hear female songbirds in Sussex, Robins, Dunnocks and Wrens are notable songsters.
It’s who’s listening too
Another bias theory is the lack of diversity in science itself. A traditionally and notoriously tricky area to crack into for women, research has shown a correlation in the rise in female scientists in the industry with advanced research in female birdsong, especially over the last ten years. And it’s not slowing down. With a balance to redress, research is underway to continue gathering data, to empower female scientists, and to hear those lost voices.
For more fascinating discoveries of female singing, watch Attenborough’s Wonder of Song on BBC iPlayer.
Comments
A budgie owner I know confirmed that his girl budgies also sing.
11 Feb 2025 21:11:00
Just the right person to talk about bird calls, the communications officer. Is she also a translator too bird-human
13 Feb 2025 11:46:00
Thanks so much for this wonderful article! It’s infuriating to know that sexism distorts even how we have listened to birdsong but glad to finally hear the whole story.
13 Feb 2025 12:18:00
Thank you for this really interesting piece. It’s fascinating that the bird world mirrors the human world so closely! And that humans (males predominantly) interpreted the world around them to reflect their own experience.
13 Feb 2025 12:36:00
I learnt something new today as I assumed it was only males,
13 Feb 2025 12:52:00
Very interesting and bearing out my own observations in our tiny garden. A pair of robins are definitely ‘an item’ and both sing as well as a pair of dunnocks whose behaviour suggests that they’re male and female. The songs ARE different between the females and males.
13 Feb 2025 14:46:00
This is fascinating! I had long suspected the female robins and dunnocks in our garden (deduced through careful observation) were singing like the males, just not as loudly. I am looking forward to more research. Do other birds like female blackbirds and song thrushes sing like the males too?
13 Feb 2025 15:10:00
Really interesting insight into birdsong. I’d never thought about this at all.
13 Feb 2025 15:34:00
Thanks for sharing this. It will add a new dimension to our birding. There is always more to learn! Looking forward to hearing our song birds this spring.
13 Feb 2025 17:26:00
This is fascinating. Makes me think of how it’s only relatively recently that women composers have been recognised and given airtime on the radio, and programming in concerts.
14 Feb 2025 19:26:00
It’s heartwarming to read about this development…! I’m looking forward to the next decade of progress for both women in Science and female singing birds.
When you think about it, the mother bird has to teach her fledglings everything they need to know to survive.
That would include being able to sing – whether the hatchling is a male or female chick.
So it’s hard to understand how men thought the next generation of birds would learn what they need to learn. By osmosis perhaps !! Or by mere instinct alone. Or by simply copying their fellows.
Here in New Zealand, we can observe the mother Tui – actively modelling flight techniques, songs, and calls to her chicks. It’s great to listen to the fledgling’s early versions of singing, too!
17 Feb 2025 10:25:00
Power to the lost voices! A great insight on birdsong. It is always so heartening to hear birdsong at any time of year and to learn more about who, why and when. Thank you.
18 Feb 2025 15:17:00