Different bird species do not understand each other exactly, but they can learn I the meanings of unfamiliar calls through 'translators, says Kate Risely.
Birds call and sing to communicate with potential mates or rivals within their own species, but don't automatically understand the vocalisations of others. However, sometimes there's a good reason to overcome this language barrier, such as ganging up on a predator.
Groups of small birds will often harass a threat, such as a bird of prey, with the aim of bothering it enough that it moves on - but how do the birds know when someone else wants to join forces?
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Research on wood warblers has shown that they don't instinctively understand when an unfamiliar species is giving the alarm call that 'a predator is here', but once they have been part of a mixed mobbing flock, and have associated the unfamiliar calls with the alarm calls of familiar species, they will start to recognise the unknown call as being a predator warning.
