Well. Answering with a straight “yes” would be anthropomorphizing a bit too much. But a qualified positive answer can be given on how birds react to music – and of course, it also depends on what kind of music it is (this is why I dread to be asked if I like music when on a birding trip – an unqualified positive answer might give the questioner the right to play whatever he or she likes, which tends to be pretty bad music).
So, what are some of the positive reactions of birds to music?
At the Buffalo Zoo, different music was played to three African bird species. The frequency of flying increased with naturalistic sounds and decreased with rock music – not exactly a strong endorsement.
A cockatoo named Snowball became an internet star dancing to pop music – the phrasing in a scientific paper was more circumspect, talking of “spontaneous synchronization to music in a nonhuman animal”, indicating – well, what exactly?
Two African Grey Parrots also seemed to enjoy music, bobbing their heads and legs. Interestingly, these two had differing music tastes, one preferring slower pop, the other more upbeat, modern pop. Neither of them enjoyed electronic dance music, which seemed to stress both of them.
When a jukebox-style touchscreen was later installed in their cage, they actively played their respective songs a total of more than 1000 times within one month, indicating that they actively sought out their music.
Overall, there is surprisingly little solid research on this topic. My guess is that “serious” ornithologists feel that the topic is too anthropomorphic to merit in-depth research (which also means it will be difficult to get grants related to it). So, while the answer to the question above is probably yes, the evidence is still somewhat thin.
Cover Photo: African Grey Parrot by Magda Ehlers, taken from Pexels.
Arriving with the car stereo at full blast, the twitcher failed to spot the vagrant…