Bird Breathing

Program Description

Birds generally take a little minibreath between syllables when they're singing, up to 30 a second. But that's in some ways the least of the differences between their breathing and ours.

Program & Recording Notes

The red-winged blackbird's and robin's songs are from the CD collection Bird Songs of California produced by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. I slowed the robin's song using Bias Peak.
The Beatles' "Blackbird" is from volume 1 of The White Album.

Web Resources

I recommend looking at some lovely animated GIFs that TableTop Whale designed: "An animated guide to breathing," comparing what taking a breath looks like in a human, a bird, and a grasshopper.

Series 1
Introduction
Vocal Range
Importance of Song
Avoiding Monotony
Learning Song
Hip Hop Mimicry
Hummingbird Complexity
Syrinx Anatomy
Internal Duets (Cardinal)
Internal Duets (Cowbird)
Internal Duets (Thrushes)
Syrinx & Pan Pipes

Series 2
Songs & Calls
Call Repertoires
Alarm Calls
Mobbing Calls
Call Notes
Cross-Species Alarms
Pishing
Breathing
Lungs & Air Sacs
Circular Breathing
Resonance
Cooing