Songbird

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images, Videos & Interactives

The video thumbnail image shows a brown-speckled bird perched on a branch, singing with an open beak.

Eurasian nightingale (Erithacus megarhynchos)

The origins of birds.

Hear the songs of many different birds.

Large communal nest of the social weaver bird, Philetairus socius, built in a tree with many entrance holes visible among dense, brown grass woven around bare branches.

Orange-billed nightingale thrush (Catharus aurantiirostris)

Streaky seedeater (Serinus striolatus)

basic body feather tracts on a generalized songbird

Map of North and South America highlighting regions where passerine (songbird) species have small geographic ranges. Colored zones indicate the number of such species per area: blue for 1, green for 2 to 5, yellow for 6 to 10, red for 11 to 15, and black for 16 to 500. Concentrated areas appear in parts of Central America, the Caribbean, the Andes, and select coastal and mountainous regions.

At a Glance

default image

songbird summary

Songbird: Media

bird

Videos

The video thumbnail image shows a brown-speckled bird perched on a branch, singing with an open beak.

Why don't birds have teeth?

Birds descended from dinosaurs, but they don't have their ancestors' bite.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Images

ovenbird

ovenbird

Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus).

S. Maslowski/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Eurasian nightingale (Erithacus megarhynchos)

Eurasian nightingale (Erithacus megarhynchos)

Eurasian nightingale (Erithacus megarhynchos).

H. Reinhard/Bruce Coleman Inc.

Large communal nest of the social weaver bird, Philetairus socius, built in a tree with many entrance holes visible among dense, brown grass woven around bare branches.

nest diversity in songbirds(From...

Sven-Olof Lindblad—The National Audubon Society Collection/Photo Researchers

Orange-billed nightingale thrush (Catharus aurantiirostris)

Orange-billed nightingale thrush (Catharus aurantiirostris)

Orange-billed nightingale thrush (Catharus aurantiirostris)

Peter L. Ames/Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Streaky seedeater (Serinus striolatus)

Streaky seedeater (Serinus striolatus)

A.J. Deane/Bruce Coleman Ltd.

basic body feather tracts on a generalized songbird

basic body feather tracts on a generalized songbird

Basic body feather tracts on a generalized songbird. The shaded areas show the right...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Map of North and South America highlighting regions where passerine (songbird) species have small geographic ranges. Colored zones indicate the number of such species per area: blue for 1, green for 2 to 5, yellow for 6 to 10, red for 11 to 15, and black for 16 to 500. Concentrated areas appear in parts of Central America, the Caribbean, the Andes, and select coastal and mountainous regions.

American songbirds

Distribution of songbirds in North and South America.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Interactives

The origins of birds.

The origins of birds.

Join the search for how birds evolved from Mesozoic-era dinosaurs in our interactive.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Hear the songs of many different birds.

Hear the songs of many different birds.

A collection of bird songs.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

VIEW MORE in these related Britannica articles: