it's sing out tuesday! if birds do it, so can we

This plain-tailed wren sings the most complex harmonies of any known bird (Image: University of St Andrews)

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News

Scientists have heard possibly the most complex vocalising by any creature aside from humans as they stood in an Ecuadorian bamboo forest listening to plain-tailed wrens.The sheer number of singers and their impressive synchronicity put the birds at the top of the world pops, according to researchers from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. "It's already known that some birds duet and that others sing in choruses, but these wrens do both and, furthermore, the choruses are extraordinarily precise and well coordinated," says Peter Slater, a St Andrews biology professor who led the study, which is published online in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Slater says that up to seven birds sing "choruses", with males and females contributing different parts.The song consists of a series of four repeated phrases that follow the pattern ABCDABCD. Males sing A and C, while females sing B and D. Listen to the birdsong here (Sound: mp3, 190kb, Mann et al)All the birds sing around 20 sets of phrases for up to two minutes at a time.............

cool, n'est pas?