A bird’s ability to emit the unique song of its species: Is it heredity? Or, is it learned by listening, by imitation? … Or, does it vary from each species?
Thank you for any answers.
If you are really interested, then you should read the following book:
Kroodsma, Donald. 2005. The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong. Houghton Mifflin Company.
It comes with a CD of bird songs and discusses sonographs.
Kroodsma was recognized in 2003 by the American Ornithologists’ Union as the "reigning authority on the biology of avian vocal behavior".
The answer to your question is…. it depends on the bird. Some birds have the ability to sing their song within their DNA, while others have a learning component. If you read the book you will see some bird species have local dialects, while other species the song is the same throughout the United States.
Get the book…. it’s easy reading and has gotten rave reviews.