This is bird note.

Which is the heftiest of all songbirds on the continent?

What about the tiniest?

Okay, first, what is a songbird?

Songbirds make up abroad and seemingly informal category,

from swallows and robins to crows, sparrows, and many more.

They aren't all fine singers by any stretch, but Songbird sticks as a name.

Their full-size range is mind-boggling.

You're hearing the high whistles of a golden-crowned kinglet, one of our smallest songbirds. Golden-crowned kinglets are a chubby three and a half inches long,

hummingbird sized, and weigh about as much as six shelled peanuts.

A gruff voice announces the biggest songbird,

the common raven, almost two feet in length and weighing around three pounds.

Not just North America's largest songbird, the common raven ranks as the world's largest songbird.

In a wrestling match, the raven would have an undeniable size advantage.

But the Kinglet, with its lighter than air hovering flight,

could literally fly circles around the raven. Half the world's

10,000 birds are in the songbird group. Some days on a bird walk, especially in

the northern states, you might see the continent's tiniest and most massive songbirds in the same tree.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.

Find us at Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein. Find us at birdnote.org. you're