This is Birdnode.

Many bird songs have a unique rhythm,

whether it's the steady trill of a junko,

or the graceful melody of a metal arc.

The tunes wouldn't sound right without their characteristic beat,

and researchers have shown that some birds have a better sense of rhythm than many humans.

The scaly-breasted ren lives in Central and South America,

and has a lengthy song of whistle notes separated by pauses.

With each whistle, the pause increases by about half a second.

When the pause reaches about ten seconds, the song repeats.

For many species, humans included,

it gets harder to tell how much time has passed as pauses get longer.

But by analyzing song recordings,

researchers found that scaly-breasted ren's can precisely measure out pauses

and whistle just in time, even as the pauses increase to several seconds.

The findings suggest that the ren's have an internal metronome

as accurate as a highly trained musician playing a solo.

We might be able to play more notes than the birds now,

but they've been keeping the beat for much, much longer.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.