Ever enquire why somebirdstweet , some babble out , some quack , and the one outside our bedroom window at5:00 in the morning caw ?
A bird ’s “ vox ” comes from the pandean pipe , which is the avian variety of the human voice box . The panpipe contains tissue layer that vibrate when air from the hoot ’s lung is passed over them . But while the human larynx is set high in the throat , birds ’ syringes(that ’s the plural ofsyrinx ) are located down nigher to the thorax , where the bronchial tube ramify off into each lung . That means that the syrinx has two origin of sound , one from each bronchial tube , which gives hiss a wider range of vocal sounds than world .
But even in the fowl kingdom , living is n’t fair . The melodiousness and versatility of a bird ’s phonation is a product of phylogenesis — the more and higher - break muscles a birdie has around its pandean pipe , the sweeter its song . Birds that do n’t have to rely on conversing with others to find a food reference , likeostriches and piranha , have no syringeal muscles . duck pass their Clarence Day splash around around lakes and waddling along the shoring , in clear view of one another , so they do n’t require elaborate Sung dynasty to pull a mate . A mere “ quack ! ” and the wag of a ass plume is sufficient .
But birds that spend most of their time in trees postulate voices that carry , since all those leaves do as sound dampeners . And they also need distinctive sounds , so that true sparrow can convey with other hedge sparrow . As a result , songbird have from five to nine pairs of musculus around their syrinx that squeeze out the tune that do as everything from a peril signaling to a dinner party bell to a love song .
A version of this story was write in 2013 ; it has been updated for 2024 .
