It appears that pretty much all multicellular lifeforms get miffed with one another for one reason or another. In the case of human beings, this can escalate from a menacing grimace through to thermonuclear war. But for the rest of nature, annoyance and aggression between individuals rarely involves acts of serious violence.
In the case of songbirds, nearly all forms of expression from mild bickering through to infernal outrage are expressed through a combination of special vocalisations and body posturing (including the use of erect feather crests, out-held wings, raised eyebrows, etc). By observing instances of bickering and aggression in the wild we can learn to recognise the unique voice that each species of bird uses to express themselves in these circumstances.
Birds are intelligent social beings with distinct individual personalities. In my observation of birds engaged in bickering it ranges from mild cases of annoyance between two or many birds (as in “hey buster, get out of my way…I’m already feeding on these flowers”) through to full-blown fisticuffs (featherycuffs?) where two or more birds engage in actual fighting. Sometimes fights involve birds locking talons in mid-air, spiralling to the ground and rolling about in the dirt for a full minute or more in such complete loathing for each other that it is possible to approach and scoop them all up in your hand.
It may be that this voice should be called ‘aggression’ but if my children were carrying on like half the birds I hear using this category of voice I wouldn’t say to them – ‘quit being aggressive”. I’d be far more inclined to simply remonstrate – “quit ya bickering!”. So, I’m calling it the ‘bickering voice’, but just know that it includes proper combat and sometimes leads to the voice of a bird in pain and in rare cases can even express violence resulting in death.
In my experience, the more gregarious (social) a species of bird is, the more likely they will be observed (and heard) bickering. Some of our local honeyeaters like little wattlebird, red wattlebird, Lewin’s honeyeater, noisy friarbird, new holland honeyeater and blue-faced honeyeater are among the worst offenders, but even little softies like eastern spinebills are prone to getting feisty in courtship and nesting season. Parrots are also well known for their noisy squabbling, as anyone who has ever stood beneath a tree being used as an overnight roost by thousands of half-pissed, pugnacious rainbow lorikeets.
It’s rather tricky to be in the right place at the right time to record two birds bickering or fighting, but I’ve managed to get a couple of examples.
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