Birds do ‘cough’ like we do, but their coughing sounds are very different. We have diaphragms and birds don’t. When we cough, it’s our diaphragm that forces air through our vocal cords producing our deep, loud ‘coughing’ (hacking) sound.
We have one larynx (voice box) at the beginning of our windpipes. Birds have a more complicated syrinx (it’s like having two voice boxes) at the end of their windpipes.
Combined, when a bird ‘coughs’ the sound is multiple ‘kacking-like’ sounds, more like one of their calls than our distinctive ‘cough’.
Birds cough for similar reasons to us. Often, like us, to clear their airways. And, like us, they do cough because of respiratory infections and allergens.
And to the delight of many kids (and some of us adults too), birds cough up ‘pellets’, indigestible materials in their food. This is not just an owl thing as often thought. Many species do this, especially insectivores. Which is what the Hermit Thrush above did and the Couch’s Kingbird below is was doing.
