Songs in Slow-Motion

By slowing down the songs of the Crested Oropendola (seen here) and the Tui, all the notes and harmonies stand out. While these details normally rush past the human ear faster than our brains can process, birds are alert to the subtleties of other birds’ songs.

This show was produced by World According to Sound. BirdNote and World According to Sound are teaming up for an immersive, 70-minute, virtual event about the sounds of birds. Learn more and register here.

BirdNote^®

Songs in Slow Motion

Written by The World According to Sound

This is BirdNote.

[Crested Oropendola song]

Some birds sing songs so fast and complex that it’s really hard for the human brain to make sense of. But if you slow them down, you can appreciate the nuance of their vocal craft. Let’s listen to the songs of the Crested Oropendola and the Tui bird. We’ll hear them sing normally, and then also slowed down to a quarter of their normal speed.

   [Crested Oropendola song, normal speed]
   [Crested Oropendola song at 0.25x speed]

   [Tui song at normal speed]
[Tui song at 0.25x speed]

I'm Chris Hoff from The World According to Sound. We're teaming up with BirdNote to make an immersive, 70-minute sound event all about birds. To find out how to attend, go to BirdNote.org.

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Produced by Sam Harnett and Chris Hoff of The World According to Sound
Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Tui ML 171696 recorded by S. Hill.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote January 2022 Narrator: Chris Hoff

ID# wats-02-2022-01-14 wats-02