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Sound From Bird Wings Act As a Predator Alarm
An anonymous reader writes "Biologists have discovered that a species of Australian pigeon has a secret way of alerting fellow birds to predators — a 'whistle' emitted by flapping wings when the bird takes off in alarm. The crested pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) is well known for the abrupt metallic-sounding whistle that it makes on takeoff. Many birds have the ability to make vocal cries to alert other members of their flock, but this is the first study to show that flight noise can also serve as an alarm call."
I walk near birds minding my own business, they fly off and make racket doing so.. only once or twice have I yelled "WHAT!?" at them.. but people look at me funny.
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I would have thought the 3 laser dots on your chest or the bodies hung upside down in trees would have been pretty good signs of a predator.
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Twenty or twenty-five years ago I noticed that those little buggers made different noises when startled than when taking off normally. I thought that was something that everybody who knew the birds knew about. Guess I should have gone into biology, and taken a little more notice of what was quite literally in my own back yard when I was growing up.
I throw out my Budgie's bird seed regularly on the front lawn so we have a few of these hang out at our house quite a bit and they're beautiful little birds. The sound they make when they fly is quite distinct so you know if you've scared one off without even looking.
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Sound Act As a Predator Alarm.
News for ornithologists (and creepy old dudes with lens) - stuff that flies!
So a bird who's wings create a whistling sound in flight creates a different sound when it flees from a predator and that is interpreted as an alarm by other birds.
It seems to me that the "alarm" is a side effect of "getting out of Dodge" and nothing more. The bird did not do anything different than any other fleeing bird when it created the noise. I did not do something special with its wings other than beat them harder and faster to get away faster
The fact that other birds also react is a no brainer; "Gee, someone is fleeing from something, I better go too".
From http://www.gardenbird.co.uk/Wood-Pigeon-Information/Bird-Watching/GBS_birdType_WoodPigeon,default,pg.html
Sometimes they can be seen feeding on nut bags but because of their large size they generally forage on the ground and if they are disturbed when feeding they clap their wings to scare off other birds.
Did the researchers employ Robert Frost shaped balloon sculptures in this study?
I have mourning doves nestling on my balcony, their wings also whistle, but it seems like every time they take off, and not only when they're alarmed.
It's just like that teenager-deterrent noise: http://www.noloitering.ca/tone.html which was ironically, but hilarously turned against adults: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5434687
My hearing must be better than I thought... I'm 40 and although I can't necessarily consciously pick up that I'm hearing a 17kHz tone, it sure as hell annoys me.
15625 Hz is *definitely* still within my hearing and annoyance range...
While it's amusing that someone found that teenagers have a larger range of frequencies that they hear and set it up as a ringtone for sms, wouldn't it just be easier to keep your phone in your pocket and on vibrate?
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That scares the absolute crap out of you if you haven't noticed them while you are going out to hang the washing on the line. Just another one of the craaazzzyy animals that occupy my back yard.
Possums that fall out of trees when *you're* drunk, and then look all embarrassed about it - waaay too funny - I mean they live in trees.
Myopic Kookaburras that *miss the ground* when hunting for food and slide along in a cloud of dust and feathers, get up and look at you like 'oh it's just a human'.
The obstreperous lorikeets that race each other (they get to about 60kph) and decide both sides of your head is part of the obstacle course they are flying, squawking loudly as they pass by, also scaring the crap out of you.
Or the owls that sit on the washing line at night and wait until you are about a foot away from them before they fly off and *also* scare the crap out of you.
Oh yeah, Australian animals are all mental.
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I'm about to turn 36, I can hear the tone clearly, and hell yes it is annoying. Now I know what makes dogs tilt their heads all funny. It's surprising that I should be able to hear it at all after spending most of my youth playing very loud music and DJing (wearing headphones plugged into various mixers, usually with the level maxed to hear them over the monitors). I was almost certain I had blown my hearing, or at least caused some damage.
But, I guess my father was right after all. It's not that my hearing is bad, it's just selective.
It goes from God, to Jerry, to me.
Similar studies have been done with Mourning Doves (free abstract) and they have the same effect.
I've always wondered why pigeons fly so loudly. It costs energy to make sound, so it can't be efficient.
It all makes sense now.
You mean that the sound made by a pigeon's wings is affected by fleeing pigeons in the vicinity?
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The sound of the phone vibrating would probably still be easily heard.
Sound from bird wings acts .... Sounds act, sound acts, mr. samzenpus.
They don't differentiate between big squarish, four-wheeled predators and the more flappery kind.
Squab is a pigeon dish best served cold on a plate with chicken liver, fava beans, and a tall glass of chianti. ffft! ffft! ffft!
Is it easier to make than revenge?
We have a lot of turtledoves around here and they make a very loud whistling sound when they take off abruptly, usually causing every small critter (birds, squirrels, etc) in the area to scramble. Nothing new here?
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I found some linked from this writeup. It's a neat sound, one I'm tempted to sample and throw into music, but then again I say that after hearing almost anything.
Your brain is not a computer.
That most bird species make a different sound on a alarmed take off.
Most of them just beat their wings harder than normal to make a thumping sound to alert other birds to the possibility of danger.
disturbing.
Table-ized A.I.