A veery sings deep in the woods. His mysterious, flutely song spirals downward, "veer, veer, veer." Veeries are wood thrushes, a group of birds a bit smaller than a robin with brown backs and white chests. The veery's chest is clear, but other species have brown spots and streaks. There are three main species in North America: the veery, hermit thrush and wood thrush. Each has a beautiful, flute-like song that turns a woodland into an enchanted forest.
The veery's haunting song features chords - more than one note at once. The bird's voice is produced in the syrinx, a vocal organ lower in the windpipe than our larynx (they have one of those, too, but with no vocal chords). The syrinx has special muscles that stretch to vary pitch. Birds with simple songs, like the pigeon, have only one syringeal muscle, while songbirds have up to nine.
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Mmm, I can picture myself in the woods, far from the city, listening to the birds sing.
ReplyDeleteWhen Oliver gets old enough to enjoy it, you can join us! We'll get him a tiny life vest so he can come paddling with us.
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