Broadbills sing with their wings

Broadbills make an unusual klaxon-like call during territorial flights, but it was not clear how the birds produced the sound until a team of scientists from Yale University and the University of Cyprus filmed the birds in the wild in Africa. They discovered that the remarkable sound is caused by the 6th and 7th primary feathers on the wing vibrating when the wing tip reaches speeds of 16m/s during each down wing beat.

The original research is available at http://jeb.biologists.org/content/219...

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