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Only one entry below is clearly a song in the scientific sense: the humpback whale’s structured, repeating vocalization. The other six are striking sounds—calls, clicks, pulses, or downsweeps—not seven officially recognized “haunting songs.” “Haunting” describes how a listener might experience them, not a scientific category.
Whales use sound to communicate and in other behaviors, and sound is especially important underwater. NOAA uses acoustic sensors to study whale behavior and interactions with people. These seven examples offer a listening guide that keeps song, call, and other vocalizations distinct.
What makes a whale sound a song?
NOAA describes humpback song as an organized sequence: “Songs show a clear structure, with smaller repetitive units called ‘phrases’ organized into larger ‘themes’ which tend to occur in a specific sequence.” (NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, September 2022.) A call, by comparison, is generally shorter and does not have that same repetitive structure; some calls are associated with feeding or social behavior.
Scientists have documented male humpbacks singing in contexts that include attracting mates and establishing territory with other males. That is an explanation for some song contexts, not a complete translation of what every song means. Other whale sounds in this guide should not be relabeled as songs just because they are memorable or musical to human ears.
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Seven whale sounds worth hearing
1. Humpback whale song
This is the clearest example of a whale song: repeated units build into phrases and themes, which follow a characteristic sequence. NOAA’s Olympic Coast material includes a humpback recording and spectrogram. The setting is notable because whales that feed along the Olympic Coast come from Hawai‘i, Mexico, and Central America, while songs are most often heard on breeding grounds. Listen and see the spectrogram.
In Hawai‘i, male humpback song is the dominant source of underwater ambient noise in many areas from December through April, and songs can travel several miles. NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands sanctuary monitors song abundance and seasonal presence using bottom-moored recorders and algorithms; this seasonal pattern describes that Hawaiian monitoring context, not every ocean. NOAA’s acoustic-monitoring overview.
2. Blue whale low-frequency sound
NOAA’s blue whale sample is a low-frequency vocalization, not a claim of a patterned song. The library plays it at eight times normal speed, so the clip is altered for listening; its playback should not be mistaken for the sound’s natural timing. Hear the blue whale sample in NOAA’s sound library.
3. Fin whale pulse train
This example is best called a pulse-train vocalization. NOAA’s sample plays at five times normal speed. That makes the pulse pattern easier to hear in the clip, but it is not natural-speed playback. Find the fin whale recording.
4. Minke whale sound
NOAA provides a minke whale audio example, but the sample’s presence in a sound library does not establish that this particular recording is a song. Treat it as a minke whale sound unless the specific clip is independently identified more precisely. Listen to NOAA’s minke whale sample.
5. Sei whale downsweeps
The NOAA spectrogram shows downsweep patterns in this sei whale example. “Downsweep” describes the pattern visible in the recording; it does not make the sound a song. The library plays this audio at twice normal speed. View and hear the sei whale example.
6. North Atlantic right whale upcalls and other calls
These are calls, not song. NOAA’s sound library lists right whale upcalls as well as other call types, making this a useful reminder that a species can have several kinds of vocalizations without every one being a song. Explore NOAA’s right whale recordings.
7. Sperm whale clicks
Sperm whale clicks are vocalizations, not songs. NOAA’s sound library includes a sample, allowing you to hear a very different kind of whale sound from the sustained or patterned examples above. Hear the sperm whale sample.
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How to listen without confusing the clips
- Check the label: NOAA’s sound library spans species and sound types; a recording is not automatically a song.
- Notice playback speed: NOAA marks the blue whale, fin whale, and sei whale examples as slowed or sped up. Keep that alteration attached to the clip if you share it.
- Use the spectrogram when available: It displays sound patterns visually, as in NOAA’s humpback and sei whale materials, but a visible pattern alone does not establish that a sound is a song.
A historic album for more humpback listening
Roger Payne’s Songs of the Humpback Whale was first released in 1970 and added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2010. Its hydrophone recordings helped make underwater whale sounds available to listeners. The album is a historical listening companion, not a verified collection of the seven examples above. Read the Library of Congress essay.
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