Starling conversation

I've always wondered whether birds' singing is a musical or artistic activity or is it actually a form of communication?

Most birds have a number of sounds that are used for warning or advertising some kind of emotional state: aggression, affection, etc. Many birds use sound - often singing - to mark their territory. The singing can be monotonous or - as is the case with for instance the blackbird - varied and pleasing for the human ear. Is there informational content in the singing or is it purely aesthetics, maybe as a selling point in the competition for sexual partners?

The blackbird's singing seems to have an aesthetics and territorial function. Its role in mating I know nothing about. With starlings it seems to be quite different. First of all, starlings are social beings, so territoriality is not of interest. The 'singing' is very varied, but contains so many noisy elements that humans rarely perceive of it as being pleasing, many not seeing it as singing at all.

If you listen to it carefully, though, it seems that a lot is going on. Actually it sounds like a communication is going on.

A week ago, that is, one morning between Christmas and new year, I was awake but still in bed in our rented house in the center of Torshavn. There was a little gathering of starlings outside the bedroom window. They were chatting along, some flying to and from the little 'meeting'. Starlings are great imitators and suddenly I heard the sound of first an oystercatcher and soon after a whimbrel. These two birds are common in the Faroes during summer but don't stay for the winter. I couldn't help but interpret the exchange as a conversation along these lines:

"Hey, haven't you noticed that the day has grown a little bit longer?"
"Yeah, soon it'll be spring and the other birds will be arriving."
"The oystercatchers."
"And later the whimbrels."
"I'm looking forward to it!"
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
...