I don’t currently have any audio recordings which demonstrate the sound birds make when they experience pain. Perhaps that’s a good thing, right? Some might argue that the voice I’m calling pain is really just a variety of the same voice I’ve described as bickering or aggression. Maybe that’s true, but in my experience of observing birds who are in actual physical distress, the vocalisations they make are distinctly different to those made when they’re simply fighting or scuffling.
Some of the best examples of where I’ve heard a bird vocalising physical distress (although not, I hope actual pain) has been when I’ve caught various birds who have become stuck inside my enclosed garden (some wander in by accident and others have nefarious intent). Satin bowerbirds, eastern yellow robins, white-browed scrubwrens, yellow-throated scrubwrens and even collared sparrowhawks have all vocalised while firmly (but carefully) held in my hands. Always the call they issue is harsh, high-pitched and quite-definitely directed at me.
The meaning of such calls very much appears to be one of total fright, distress and a clear insistence that I ought to release them henceforth! Sparrowhawks are unaccustomed to being manhandled by anyone, so you’d expect a reproachful attitude and a voice tinged with fury, but when young magpies are violently attacked by adult birds (who aren’t just ‘teaching them a lesson’) their voice moves beyond mere submission to communicate actual pain and terror.
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