Anna's hummingbirds chirp with their tails

[reliantrialto]

The snipe uses its tail feathers to make a display "song", called "drumming" so this would not be unique in the bird world. A very different scale though.

[Shramir]

man the humming birds at my house do this aaaalll day

i thought it was a threat thing at first but then i realized its probably a mating thing.

man im hearing that chirp noise all the time

[Shramir]

@Shramir

i also live right next to berkley, i can see it from my porch =)

so i definitely know they have plenty of these birds around to study =D

[MrBiodiversity]

Hey yall, this is science/ecology - We're all learning. But given what Ive read here I am going to unsubscribe from so-called hummingbirdcentral ...

[llgondek]

do you think i really care what you say. your postings amusing and useless just like you. You're the MORON!!!

[BloomingWithJoy1]

coooool

=D

I want one!

[SnarlingLeopard]

0:38 XD lololol

[Ermengarde11]

I've noticed that doves seems to create a sort of twittering sound with their wings when in flight.

[lsoccer802]

if the sinblflarp of its werfletasle is adwreopt then that is unimprobable

[jomomo]

indeed.

[Jacobbmarley]

A bit like snipe

[BrianShaneRushton]

Cute.

[superfisto]

I wish I had a poster of that 500shots/second time lapse image.

[flydarling]

Well that's a neat trick to pull off. The footage was superb. I wonder if the females are drawn to the one who makes the loudest noise? Cheers, Lesley

[gnamp]

This is made to look conclusive.

[ThompsonSeedless]

nothing in science is conclusive

[gnamp]

Utter rot. But this is especially misleading.

[farvision]

Ok, propose an alternative hypothesis.

[gnamp]

erm... erm... erm... it chirps like any other bird, perhaps?

[farvision]

"since they have small voice boxes" ... the video implies that the chirp is louder than the voice box could make. But we'd have to go back to the original paper to see.

Presumably they got past reviewers on this point, if it was a decent review.

[gnamp]

I refer you to my original post. This is misleading- it seems to be conclusive but actually, quite cleverly relies on implication etc. to leave the audience feeling they have been told something as a fact. It may even be true but that doesn't alter the fact that this is still completely hypothetical and made to appear conclusive.

[ThompsonSeedless]

then its a coincidence they fan their tale wings when near a female?

[gnamp]

...and we all know how that is 'totally' unheard of behaviour in birds. (sarcasm)

[Chronoecho]

but the fact that their tails are able to vibrate like a reed... uhhh gettin where im going?

[gnamp]

The cheap might be made by the bird's tail and this video clevery suggests that it definately is- when it mightn't be. This is a hypothetical idea is exhibited as Gospel Truth. And that's where I was going. Keep up.

[Chronoecho]

does it really matter?

[gnamp]

yes- don't you realise?... I'm a young Anna's hummingbird and I need to know what I'm meant to do! ;)

[dafttool]

Cool. And the 500 frames per second shot was cool as well.

[strohmann]

wow... just wow