What Frequency of Sound Can Migratory Birds Hear?
The hearing ability of birds is not wholly understood, though the perception of sound seems to be one sensory area in which many birds are comparatively or even less endowed than humans.
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Sensitivity
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On the whole, birds have a somewhat similar sensitivity to sound as humans. Most species have their greatest auditory sensitivity at frequencies between one and five kilohertz. At most frequencies, humans can better detect fainter sounds than can birds.
Birdsong
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The fact that most birds sing in frequencies easily discerned by the human ear---often between 1,000 and 8,000 hertz, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology---is a major reason why the sound is so appealing.
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Infrasonic Sound
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Some birds, including pigeons, guineafowl and chickens, seem to be quite attuned to infrasonic sounds---those frequencies between 0.01 and 10 hertz. A common source of infrasound is the sloughing of wind across mountains. In a chapter in Current Ornithology (1999), researchers Cynthia Carey and William R. Dawson raise the possibility of birds detecting such topographically and atmospherically induced low-frequency noise in advance of approaching storms.
Migration
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Some studies suggest that migrating birds could orient themselves based on "acoustic landmarks," as noise ascends broadly from terrestrial sources and echoes may be greater over bodies of water than other surfaces.
Migrant Hunter
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One creature seems to employ sound---by echolocating---to prey upon migrating birds. Recent studies suggest the greater noctule bat actively hunts some of the five billion songbirds that traverse the Mediterranean basin on nocturnal autumn migrations.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Bùi Linh Ngân
