How Birds Work by Marianne Taylor

Author:Marianne Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: The Experiment

Grasshopper Warblers produce a continuous, reeling song of very rapid clicking sounds, resembling the song of a grasshopper.

This diagram shows a typical songbird syrinx.

Nightingales, like many accomplished avian songsters, are shy by nature and have drab plumage.

Alternative sounds

Some birds make their territorial sounds through other means. Snipes produce theirs by fanning out their tail feathers in fast, diving flight. The outer tail feathers are much less rigid than the inner ones, and flap back and forth in the air when the bird flies fast, creating a strange, bleating note. Woodpeckers “drum” very rapidly on hollow, resonant wood, producing a short phrase of hammered “notes.” Their hugely long tongues, which wrap around the back of the brain, help shield them from head trauma while they drum. Several bird species, including the Common Woodpigeon, some nightjars and the Short-Eared Owl, produce loud wing-claps in flight, as part of their courtship “song.” This sound is produced simply by allowing the wings to strike each other above the body at the end of the upward stroke.

As we saw earlier, some birds have modified tracheae and syrinxes that enable them to produce louder sound. The Kakapo, a curious flightless parrot native to New Zealand, has a different way of increasing the effectiveness of its calls. The male digs several saucer-shaped “bowls” in the ground, and these serve to amplify his deep, booming calls, allowing them to carry for about 3 miles (5km). Females that are impressed by the sound will walk across the forest floor to find the male and mate.

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