A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (order Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines from Latin oscen, a songbird. This group contains some 4000 species, in which the vocal organ (syrinx) is developed in such a way as to produce a diverse and elaborate bird song.

This 'bird song' is essentially territorial in that it communicates the identity and whereabouts of an individual to other birds and also signals sexual intentions. It is not to be confused with bird calls, which are used for alarms and contact, and are especially important in birds that feed or migrate in flocks. While almost all living birds give calls of some sort, well-developed songs are only given by a few lineages outside the songbirds. Other birds have songs to attract mates or hold territory, but these are usually simple and repetitive (such as the Common Cuckoo's), lacking the variety of many songbird songs (for extreme example, the Nightingale).

Although many songbirds have songs which are pleasant to the human ear, this is not always the case. Many members of the crow family make croaks or screeches which sound harsh to humans. Our songbird suncatchers and songbird windchimes are never harsh to humans, look beautiful hanging, and make perfect gifts!