From insects to great apes, by way of birds and fish, animals communicate through an extraordinary variety of sounds. While ...

Rhythms can separate a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker from Williamson's Sapsucker.

All air-breathing vertebrates have a larynx—a structure of muscles and folds that protects the trachea and, in many animals, vibrates and modulates to produce a stunning array of sounds. But birds, ...

An adorable voice to go with an adorable bird.

When birds and humans sing it sounds completely different, but now new research shows that the very same physical mechanisms are at play when a bird sings and a human speaks. When birds and humans ...

It may not be polite to eavesdrop, but sometimes, listening in on others’ conversations can provide valuable information. And in this way, humans are like most other species in the animal world, where ...

Scientists show that squirrels have one ear tuned to the chatter of birds, and act on what they learn from eavesdropping. By James Gorman It will come as no surprise to squirrel lovers — and haters, ...

Melissa Block talks to Jonathan Hagstrum of the U.S. Geological Survey about his recent study that finds that homing pigeons use "infrasound" as a navigational cue. Now the curious case of the homing ...

Birds, although they have larynges, use a different organ to sing. Called a syrinx, it's a uniquely avian feature. Now, a team that brings together physics, biology, computation and engineering finds ...