Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: Killdeer, Master of Distraction
Killdeer doing a broken wing distraction
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • BirdNote Daily
    • Bring Birds Back
    • Threatened
    • BirdNote Presents
    • Sound Escapes
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • The Team
    • Board Members
    • DEI/IDEA Commitment
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Decibels Per Gram

July 26, 2016
Sometimes the smaller the bird, the bigger the voice
Listen Now
Subscribe
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Costa's Hummingbird Expand Image
© Glenn Seplak CC/nc-2.0

Some of the tiniest birds in the world have impressively loud voices. The Ruby-crowned Kinglet — that bright-headed sprite of the treetops — would be downright deafening if it were just a little bigger. Hummingbirds were originally named for the mechanical buzzing produced by their inconceivably fast wing-beats. But some males, such as this Costa’s Hummingbird of the Southwest, are equally notable for their vocal attainments. Late in winter, these tiny gems flash their purple throats and utter a startlingly loud, ear-piercing whine.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

Decibels Per Gram

Written by Rick Wright

    This is BirdNote.
Birds are loud.
[Northern mockingbird, ML 197002, 01:05 ff.]
Sometimes it seems that the smaller the bird, the bigger the voice. Some of the noisiest species in the Americas are the wrens, their loud chants and trills all out of proportion to the slightness of those slender bodies.
[Carolina Wren, ML 196481, 00:52 ff.]
The Ruby-crowned Kinglet, too — that bright-headed sprite of the treetops — would be downright deafening if it were just a little bigger.
[Ruby-crowned Kinglet, ML 206445, 00:002 ff.]
Hummingbirds, of course, were originally named for the mechanical buzzing produced by their inconceivably fast wing-beats.
[Ruby-throated Hummingbird, ML 176299, 00:25 ff.]
But some males, such as the Costa’s Hummingbird of the Southwest, are equally notable for their vocal attainments.
[Costa’s Hummingbird, ML 125272, 00:49 ff.]
Late in the desert winter, these tiny gems take conspicuous perches on ocotillos and mesquites, where they flash their purple throats and utter a startlingly loud, ear-piercing whine, described by 19th-century naturalists as, “like the sharpest note … on a violin.”  A male Costa’s Hummingbird weighs 3.6 grams, less than a tenth the mass of a mockingbird. Which given its voice is maybe just as well.
[Northern Mockingbird, ML 197002, 01:05 ff.]
BirdNote’s taking a cruise up the Amazon River in January 2017.
Care to join us? Learn more at BirdNote.org 

###
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York.  Northern Mockingbird [197002] by Bob McGuire; Carolina Wren [196481] by Bob McGuire; Ruby-crowned Kinglet [206445] by Bob McGuire; Ruby-throated Hummingbird [176299] by Geoffrey A. Keller; Costa’s Hummingbird [12572] by Gregory F. Budney.
BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Dominic Black
© 2016 Tune In to Nature.org    Narrator: Michael Stein

ID#  sound-22-2016-07-26     sound-22

 

Rick Wright
Writer
Michael Stein
Narrator
Tags: vocalization

Related Resources

Carolina Wren – More at Audubon’s Guide to North American BirdsCosta’s Hummingbird – More at Audubon’s Guide to North American BirdsNorthern Mockingbird – More at Audubon’s Guide to North American BirdsRuby-crowned Kinglet – More at Audubon’s Guide to North American Birds

More About These Birds

Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)

Thryothorus ludovicianus

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Mimus polyglottos

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)

Regulus calendula

Costa's Hummingbird (Calypte costae)

Calypte costae

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

February 10, 2020

Tweets 'n' Squawks: Learn How to Identify Birds by Song

By Adam Sedgley
Nothing signals spring quite like singing birds.
December 18, 2017

What does it take to record the world’s birds?

By Gerrit Vyn

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • About
  • Annual Report
  • Contact
  • Science Advisory Council
  • Pitch Page
  • Sights & Sounds
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy