This is Birdnode. Birds are loud.

Sometimes it seems that the smaller the bird, the bigger the voice.

Some of the noisiest species in the Americas are the rings.

They're loud chants and trills all out of proportion, the slightness of those slender bodies.

The ruby-crowned kinglet, too, that bright-headed sprite of the treetops would be downright deafening if it were just a little bigger.

Humming birds, of course, were originally named for the mechanical buzzing produced by their inconceivably fast wingbeats.

But some males, such as the cost as hummingbird of the southwest, are equally notable for their vocal attainments.

Late in the desert winter, these tiny gems take conspicuous perches on aquatios and mosquitos, where they flash their purple throats and utter a song described by 19th century naturalists as, like the sharpest note on a violin.

A male cost as hummingbird weighs 3.6 grams, which, given its voice, is maybe just as well.

For Birdnode, I'm Michael Stein.

Support for Birdnode is provided by the Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation and generous listeners around the world.