Note on Chatter

It occurs to me that when a cat, or a dog, or another human person is talking to me, in general, the purpose or intended goal of communication is pretty obvious; food, water, attention, play, go for a walk, what have you. But bird communication, for whatever reasons, is not always so direct, or explicit, because they often chatter. As far as birds go, there is a fine line between playing with vocalization, and communicating; at times it is difficult to tell which one is hearing.  

Birds spend quite a lot of time, especially in proximity with others, chattering, muttering, grumbling, babbling like babies, gurgling, rehearsing, reciting, singing, yodeling, etc… and it all makes for interesting listening, and a good read on a bird’s mood or state of mind, but it can make understanding them a bit confusing. I do not have any easy way to tell which is which. Usually, if I can’t catch an immediate intended meaning, I’ll just tilt my head, huh? What was that? But in my experience”, if you suspect you are receiving “static”, not communicative language, it is best to gurgle back, very softly mimicking along, or just to listen in quietly, and try not to interrupt their train of “thought” or lack thereof as much as possible during these mutter times.

I hypothesize that birds do quite a bit of what other animals usually do when sleeping, while they are awake, in a day dream state, relaxing after a bath, or a meal. After all, other animals can sleep all night, and much of the day, but most birds sleep at night, and remain awake during the full length of the day, for safety, and foraging. So perhaps the chatter is a relaxed, sleepy state activity. We have all heard cats, dogs and humans talking incomprehensible in sleep after all.