The World Is Becoming Too Loud for Birds

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BBirds are great speakers and listeners, using vocalizations to communicate within their species. Whether courting mates, warning predators, or chatting with offspring, birds excel at using their voices and ears to share meaningful information. All this makes them particularly vulnerable to noise pollution.

Individual studies have documented the impacts of human noise on bird behavior and fitness, but now a review study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B paints a comprehensive picture of how noise pollution affects birds around the world. Researchers from the University of Michigan and California Polytechnic State University examined data from more than 150 studies spanning six continents and 160 bird species. “Based on our assessment of this meta-analysis, we were able to generate a broader statement about the trends we observe,” lead study author and conservation biologist Natalie Madden said in a statement.

Using published studies explicitly testing the effects of anthropogenic noise on birds, Madden and his coauthors tallied changes in behaviors such as aggression, foraging, communications, risk-taking, and habitat use. Fitness-related parameters, including growth, physiology and reproduction, were also considered when available in the studies.

Read more: “Those alike speak together”

Overall, the literature review showed that human-generated noise, whether from traffic, construction, or other activities, had significant effects on bird behavior and physiology. The life history of a bird species made a difference in how it responded to unnatural ambient noise. Cavity-nesting birds, for example, experienced negative impacts on their growth compared to birds using open nests. City birds had higher levels of stress hormones than birds living in quieter habitats. And almost all types of anthropogenic noise had a dampening effect on breeding success.

Researchers say that knowing the harmful effects of human noise on birds should encourage us to protect them from our noise pollution.

“A lot of the problems we face from biodiversity loss seem inexorable and large-scale, but we know how to use different materials and how to install things in different ways to block sound,” Carter added. “We just need to generate enough awareness and interest to do it.” »

This would certainly give the birds some peace and quiet.

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Main image: Chekalin Nikolai / Shutterstock

• Devin Reese

  Published on February 17, 2026

  Devin Reese is the editor-in-chief of Natural history and a science writer based in Alexandria, Virginia.