BR: v6

BIRD CALLS 1:   Edison’s phonograph vibrated paper to make sounds.  Older phones vibrated little plastic discs to reproduce voices..

BIRD CALLS 1:   We vibrate skin to speak.  This skin is located near the top of our trachea.  You can easily see the larynx of a man, the Adam’s apple, which contains this skin that we vibrate to make our voices. ( Our vocal cords.)

BIRD CALLS 1:   Birds use the syrinx which is located very high in their throat where the two sides of their lungs meet the trachea. 

BIRD CALLS 1:   These tube-tunnels in the chest of a bird have window-like membranes in them that muscles move in and out of the air flow so they’ll vibrate.  It’s a little like when you hold a piece of paper out of a car window.

BIRD CALLS 1:    Sometimes there’s even a balloon-like structure–the osseous bulla–attached to them to make sounds like the peeping of little chicks.  Pretty funny!

BIRD CALLS 2:   Bird calls from the syrinx and its add-on features can get pretty wild.  Oftentimes these syrinx skin membranes are attached to super-speed tendons–the fastest on earth.

BIRD CALLS 2:   These super-speed muscles are also used for a rattlesnake’s rattle shaking and an oyster toadfish’s swim bladder’s vibrations.   These tiny super-muscles  can pump out 400 pulses per second and produce the amazing trills and rapid sound changes you hear in some bird calls. 

BIRD CALLS 2:   These pulsated sounds can be fast too–flipping on and off in a couple thousandths of a second!  Some birds can sing the number of notes on a bagpipe in a single second!

BIRD CALLS 2:   Birds can also make two entirely different and very complex sounds at the same time.  Just as a pianist’s hands can play two completely different complex melodies,  many bird songs are complex duets between both sides of their syrinx.  Unbelievable!

BIRD CALLS 2:    Birds can also expand and contract different parts of their throats and use one or more parts of their lung air sacs to produce wild and beautiful overtones and whistles which add to their calls.  Making bird songs is mind-numbingly complex–sometimes producing the effects of a full orchestra.