Wrens of Ecuador – Choral Song

Music; Ambience: Plain-Tailed Wren song

JM: Alright, the parts are A,B,C and D. ‘Boys, you sing A and C, girls B and D. Sounds like high school choir practice, right? Well, it’s Birdsong 101 for tropical wrens. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Nigel Mann is in the Biology Department at the State University of New York in Oneonta. He studies wrens, songbirds with a range throughout North and South America. Well, on a recent trip to Ecuador, Professor Mann discovered that groups of Plain-Tailed Wrens vocalize together in what may be the most complex structure ever found in a non-human song.

NM: “The song of the Plain-Tailed Wren is complicated by the fact there are four birds singing, or five birds, or six birds, or seven birds and not just always two. But there’s another level of complexity too. In the Plain-Tailed Wren there are four components. We might call them A, B, C, and D. And this cycle can go on thirty or forty times. The A and the C in the song are produced by the male. The B and the D are produced by the female. Now the A and the C, the male components, are different to one another. There’re a whole set of A phrases a male can sing. He has a repertoire of them. The C phrases too are sung by the males so the male again has a whole selection of C phrases he can choose from. And maybe there are 25 A phrases and maybe 25 C phrases. The females sing B and D and the same situation applies. So, in any one song there will be a particular A phrase, a particular B phrase, a particular C and a particular D. And always those particular phrases will tend to be associated. So you have this, essentially it’s a very loud song produced by multiple birds. It’s wonderful rhythmic sound. It’s very evocative and it’s something that is not easily forgotten.”

JM: Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

Wrens of Ecuador - Choral Song

The call of the Plain-Tailed Wren may be the most complex non-human song in nature.

Air Date:08/15/2006

Scientist:

Transcript:

Wrens of Ecuador - Choral Song

Music; Ambience: Plain-Tailed Wren song

JM: Alright, the parts are A,B,C and D. 'Boys, you sing A and C, girls B and D. Sounds like high school choir practice, right? Well, it's Birdsong 101 for tropical wrens. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Nigel Mann is in the Biology Department at the State University of New York in Oneonta. He studies wrens, songbirds with a range throughout North and South America. Well, on a recent trip to Ecuador, Professor Mann discovered that groups of Plain-Tailed Wrens vocalize together in what may be the most complex structure ever found in a non-human song.

NM: "The song of the Plain-Tailed Wren is complicated by the fact there are four birds singing, or five birds, or six birds, or seven birds and not just always two. But there's another level of complexity too. In the Plain-Tailed Wren there are four components. We might call them A, B, C, and D. And this cycle can go on thirty or forty times. The A and the C in the song are produced by the male. The B and the D are produced by the female. Now the A and the C, the male components, are different to one another. There're a whole set of A phrases a male can sing. He has a repertoire of them. The C phrases too are sung by the males so the male again has a whole selection of C phrases he can choose from. And maybe there are 25 A phrases and maybe 25 C phrases. The females sing B and D and the same situation applies. So, in any one song there will be a particular A phrase, a particular B phrase, a particular C and a particular D. And always those particular phrases will tend to be associated. So you have this, essentially it's a very loud song produced by multiple birds. It's wonderful rhythmic sound. It's very evocative and it's something that is not easily forgotten."

JM: Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.