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• 10-Minute Sampler
• Introduction
• Vocal Range of Songbirds
• Importance of Song
• Birdsong: Learned or Innate?
• Syrinx: Dual Voicebox
• Calls and Songs
• Call Notes
• Chicken Calls
• Song and Breathing
• Circular Breathing
• Egg Calls
• Coiled Trachea
• Throat Singing
• Whistling
• Size and Sound
• Regional Song Dialects
• Drumming: Woodpeckers Etc.
• Song Duels?
• Rusten Interview

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Program Information — Series 1 & 2
Click on a program in the right-hand column to see a description and program notes.

Mobbing Calls Program Description Mobbing calls ask for help in repelling a predator. The black-capped chickadee adds more and more "dee" syllables to its chick-a-dee-dee call to indicate a more and more urgent threat. The call brings other chickadees and even other species to "get in the face" of a perched predator, like an owl. Program & Recording Notes The house wren mobbing calls and the black-capped chickadee's calls are from the CD accompanying the Handbook of Bird Biology, published by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Chris Tenney recorded the bushtit and mixed flock alarm calls at Elkhorn Slough.

Series 1 Introduction Vocal Range Importance of Song Avoiding Monotony Learning Song Hip Hop Mimicry Hummingbird Complexity Syrinx Anatomy Internal Duets (Cardinal) Internal Duets (Cowbird) Internal Duets (Thrushes) Syrinx & Pan Pipes Series 2 Songs & Calls Call Repertoires Alarm Calls Mobbing Calls Call Notes Cross-Species Alarms Pishing Breathing Lungs & Air Sacs Circular Breathing Resonance Cooing