Some Birdsongs Are More Pleasing to Human Ears Than Others. Higher-Pitched, Complex Calls Tend to Sound More Beautiful to Us

In a new study, more than 80 participants rated the pleasantness of vocalizations made by 123 European bird species. Researchers then looked at the acoustic qualities of the most—and least—liked songs

Sara Hashemi | Daily Correspondent

September 24, 2026 3:01 p.m.

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Do you have a favorite birdsong? Other people might share the same one. Certain acoustic features of their tweets strike a chord with humans, according to a new study.

Researchers asked 84 participants in Germany to rate the pleasantness of vocalizations made by 123 European bird species. The Eurasian blackbird came out on top, while the western barn owl ranked last. The findings, published in the journal Frontiers of Bird Science on September 1, expand our understanding of how humans perceive birdsong and could help inform soundscape management in urban green spaces and recreational areas.

“You don’t have to be a ‘bird person’ to find bird sounds beautiful,” says study co-author Nadine Kalb, a biologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany, in a statement. “Being able to recognize birds by their appearance or song did not affect how people rated calls. This suggests that enjoyment of birdsong is connected to something more fundamental than just knowing what you are listening to.”

Kalb and colleagues already knew from previous research that bird sounds can boost human wellbeing and provide restorative benefits. In the new study, they wanted to better understand what elements made the songs pleasing, connecting “the biology of the bird’s vocalization and the psychology of human perception,” study co-author Christoph Randler, a biologist at the University of Tübingen, tells CNN’s Taylor Nicioli.

After asking the participants to rate recorded bird calls, the researchers analyzed each vocalization’s loudness, pitch, complexity and bandwidth, or the range of pitches. Then, they cross-referenced that data with the pleasantness scores.

Quieter songs with a narrower bandwidth and higher pitch were considered the most pleasant, the team found. Surprisingly, more complicated songs tended to receive higher marks.

“We might intuitively expect simple, repetitive sounds to be easier and therefore more pleasant, but the opposite pattern emerged: More complex sounds tended to receive higher pleasantness ratings,” Randler tells CNN.

Besides the European blackbird, top-rated calls included those from the willow warbler, blackcap and mistle thrush. Meanwhile, the Egyptian goose, gray heron and peregrine falcon were ranked among avians with the least pleasing sounds.

So, why do we like some birdsongs more than others? It’s possible that we prefer more variable sounds with moderate loudness and pitch because they “signal a safe, healthy and restorative environment where we can relax,” Kalb tells BBC Science Focus Magazine’s Jessica McAllen.

What’s more, prior knowledge of birds had no impact on how participants rated a song’s pleasantness, “suggesting that this really is about the acoustic features,” says Clinton Francis, an ecologist at California Polytechnic State University who wasn’t involved in the work, to Olivia Ferrari at Audubon.

Still, there are many avenues for further research. For example, the authors didn’t test how a bird’s call rate might impact how we perceive its pleasantness—a constant chirping might eventually get on your nerves. They would also like to conduct bigger studies, particularly with people from different cultures, more experienced bird-watchers and more men. (Roughly three-fourths of participants in this study were women.)

The team hopes that the findings could be used to inform decisions about sound management in public spaces and bring the most restorative birdsongs to them. Additionally, conservation programs could use birds that sing the most universally liked songs as ambassadors to raise support for protections that help all avians, per Audubon.

“If we understand which components of biodiversity people actually perceive and value, we can better understand the human side of biodiversity conservation,” Randler tells the outlet.

However, Olga Feher, a psychologist at the University of Warwick in England who wasn’t involved in the study, worries that focusing on birds with more pleasant songs might harm conservation efforts for creatures that make sounds less pleasing to human ears.

“To me, the most interesting thing about this research is that it tells us something about the evolution of our perception of beauty,” she tells CNN. “This is something we share with certain songbirds who sing to entertain and impress their conspecifics,” or members of the same species.

Sara Hashemi is a science writer and fact-checker currently based in New York City. Her work has appeared in Sierra, The Body, Maisonneuve magazine and more.