- It can't be easy for a
bird trying to make its way
in a world dominated by us humans.
(percussion music)
To begin with, think
of the noise pollution
that we generate on a daily basis.
Motorcycles, jackhammers, helicopters,
planes, car horns, barking
dogs, yapping humans,
and in December, that
ear-shattering strain
of Sir Paul McCartney's,
♫ simply having a
wonderful Christmas time ♫
So what does a bird do?
Shout.
Dr. Caitlin Kight, a behavioral ecologist
at the University of Exeter,
recently published her findings
about 32 male bluebirds she exposed
to either loud or quiet ambient noises.
Kight found that as
the ambient noise rose,
the bird's volume increased
and their pitch lowered,
which is significant, as
bird's range of hearing
is similar to our own.
That means that when
environmental noises ratchet up,
birds, like humans, have
to shout through it.
Moreover, in 2001 and 2002,
ornithologist Henrik Bruum
recorded the songs of male
nightingales in Berlin,
and found that they sang 14 decibels
above the noise of traffic to be heard.
At their loudest, the calls
rang in at 95 decibels,
the same decibel level of a
chainsaw from three feet away.
Yep, the nightingales are breaking
sound pollution regulations.
This kind of real-time
adjustment is pretty amazing,
but there's a precedent for it in nature.
Think waterfalls, or whipping winds
on the side of a mountain,
causing a bird to bellow its mating song
and drown out a rival.
The big question is,
does the cacophony of humanity
have an adverse reaction on birds?
In a interview with New Scientist,
Henrik Bruum concedes that
although increase volume
requires a five-fold
increase in lung pressure,
this wouldn't cause
injury to birds' lungs.
But perhaps the injury is
more mental than physical.
I mean, imagine you're in a bar
trying to strike up a
conversation that could lead,
to say, human mating,
but the bass is so loud,
that you're screaming
at your potential mate,
spewing spit in the process.
I imagine that's what it's like for a bird
trying to land mating call
over the sound of a jackhammer.
So now the trick is to figure
out how to help a bird out.
Be its wing man, so to speak,
and give it a chance in the
bar scene that is the world.
That's today's drop of knowledge.
For more of the good
stuff, check back here,
and make sure to subscribe.
By the way, etymology of subscribe,
sub, Latin for under,
scribe, Latin for write.
In other words, cosign us.
(dong)
