Size and Sound Among Birds

Program Description

Generally, larger birds have lower voices because their whole vocal apparatus is larger: longer and wider. But there are exceptions to this rule.

Here we use the example of the western screech owl. Although the female screen owl is larger than the male, her syrinx is smaller and her trachea (windpipe) is narrower. So, the male has a deeper hoot.

Program & Recording Notes

Chris Tenney recorded the house finch near Salinas. The recording of the American robin is from CD accompanying the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Handbook of Bird Biology. The western screech owl duet is from the CDs accompanying the book Nature's Music: The Science of Birdsong.

Series 3
Egg Calls
Chick ID Calls
Chicken Calls
Vocal Tract
Syrinx Styles
Airway Model
Airway Overtones
Coiled Trachea
Beak & Airway
Vowels & Airway
Tuvan Throat Singing
Whistling

Series 4
Size & Sound
Forest Soundscape
Grassland Soundscape
Bird Hearing
Local Dialects
Regional Dialects
Drumming - Woodpeckers Etc.
Bird Tongues
Bird Brains & Singing
Song Duels?
Dawn Chorus
Finale: Song Sparrow