slo-mo

Songs and calls of some New York State birds

Bird Songs in Slow Motion

File lengths are given in kB.

New York's Hylochiclid Thrushes These four birds (Wood Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Veery) are the best North American singers and among the finest in the world. For an overview, here are four sonographed records, each with a slow-motion (half-speed, half-pitch) replay. More detailed individual listings follow. Sonograms are linear in frequency, 0-5512 Hz. except for the Wood Thrush which is 0-11025 Hz. Note that the Wood Thrush record is also about 3 times as long as the others. Sonograms and half-speed records were prepared using Martin Hairer's Amadeus software for Macintosh computers.

Wood Thrush  
Hylochicla mustelina

Normal sound


Half-speed, half-pitch

Hermit Thrush  
Catharus guttatus

Normal sound


Half-speed, half-pitch
North Creek, July 2000

Swainson's Thrush  
Catharus ustulatus

Normal sound


Half-speed, half-pitch
Crane Mt. July 2000

Veery  
Catharus fuscescens

Normal sound


Half-speed, half-pitch
Hamden Connecticut May 2000

The Quicktime Veery of Letchworth State Park


Normal sound


Half-speed, half-pitch
Leicester, May 2001

Song Sparrow

Song sparrows sing very clean, perfect intervals. Here is a perfect fourth:

Frequency displayed linearly, range 0-11050 Hz. Color (yellow < red < blue) shows intensity.

Normal Speed
      
Half Speed
Long Island, April 2004.
This is the same bird who sings the slow-motion on Sparrows.

Here is a perfect fifth:

Frequency displayed linearly, range 0-11050 Hz. Color (yellow < red < blue) shows intensity.

Normal Speed
      
Half Speed
Long Island, June, 1996



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Tony Phillips
Math Dept SUNY Stony Brook
tony@math.sunysb.edu
August 7 2014