Voices and Vocabularies – Exquisite Thrush Songs
BirdNote Daily
BirdNote
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | This is Bird Note. |
| 0:05.1 | Some believe the song of the wood thrush to be the most beautiful bird song in North America. |
| 0:27.1 | Others select the song of the hermit thrush. |
| 0:37.2 | Still others name the singing of the Swainson's Thrush. |
| 0:46.2 | So how do thrushes create such fine music? |
| 0:50.2 | The answer is that the birds have a double voice box. |
| 0:56.0 | Bird's song emanates from a complex structure unique to birds called the syrinx. |
| 1:01.6 | Syrinx is also the Greek word for the musical instrument we call panpipes, which have multiple pipes. It's a fitting name for this essential part of a bird's vocal anatomy, because |
| 1:07.6 | like panpipes, birds have two separate pipes to sing with. A fine singer like |
| 1:13.5 | a thrush can voice notes independently and simultaneously from each half of its syrinx, |
| 1:20.2 | notes which blend brilliantly as ethereal harmonious tones. Fortunately for us, the results are lovely and haunting. |
| 1:33.5 | This episode is also available in Spanish. |
| 1:37.3 | To learn more, start at our website, birdnote.org. |
| 1:41.6 | I'm Michael Stein. |
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