The broadbill's strange song may set your
heart aflutter.
March 30, 2016
Most birds have to open their beaks to
sing, but when it comes to the dainty broadbill, all it has to do is wiggle its
wings. In African and Rufous-sided Broadbills, circular flight displays (see
the video below) are accompanied by a pulsing song that can be heard from more
than 300 feet away. The brreeeeet sound, which resembles a klaxon horn, doesn’t come
from vocalizations, but rather from the fluttering of wing feathers, as
explained in a study published today in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Some types of birds, such as hummingbirds
and doves, can sing with both their syrinx—the avian equivalent of a
voicebox—and their wings and tails, says study author Christopher Clark, a
researcher at the University of California , Riverside Clark knew that broadbills make some pretty
cool noises, too, but wasn't sure whether they came from the bill
or the feathers.
To find out, Clark and his colleagues
traveled to Uganda
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