The researchers started looking for this device by taking high-speed video of crested pigeons taking flight, and pairing the footage with acoustic recordings. If the whistling had evolved as a signal, there would likely be a specific, physical adaptation consistently responsible for producing the noise. The team set out to systematically test this “wing whistle alarm” idea, and their results were published today in the journal Current Biology. The research team behind the study – centered at Australian National University – thought it was possible that the whistling flight of the crested pigeon could be one of these elusive, non-vocal “instruments,” potentially used as an alarm signal for other flock members. The situation is a bit like attributing a great deal of a band’s success to the lead vocalist while ignoring the bassist….except in this case, no one really knows if the bassist even exists. Biologists have been using bird vocalisations to help us understand everything from evolutionary processes to animal communication and cognition, but whatever role non-vocal communication plays has been difficult to demonstrate. This “instrumental music” as he called it is an idea that has received barely any attention compared to birds’ conspicuous and important vocal signals. That latter potential explanation had been floated out by Charles Darwin himself 150 years ago as a hypothetical feature of bird social life ripe for investigation. If the whistling evolved to actually do something, what would that even be? Distracting predators? Startling them? Or was it a type of non-vocal communication directed towards other crested pigeons? The sound effect makes for quite the dramatic exit, but until now, science didn’t know if the whistling had a specific function or if it was just a quirky byproduct of flight physics. They’re known for both the stratospheric spire of feathers atop their heads, and the cyclical, metallic whistling noise their wings make when flapping – a distinctive enough trait that the birds are also sometimes called “whistle-winged pigeons.” For those unfamiliar, this is what it sounds like when doves fly. The birds – crested pigeons ( Ocyphaps lophotes) – have long been recognised for their loud flying, but new research has revealed how they make the whistling and just what these strange sounds are for: the whistling wings function as an alarm, telling other pigeons that danger is near and to vamoose, and it’s unlike anything known among birds.Ĭrested pigeons are found throughout much of mainland Australia in open habitats. Amazingly, these noises don’t come from the birds’ mouths, but from the flapping of their wings. In a panicked huff, the birds take flight, and the air fills with a series of creaking whistles. Suddenly, a feral cat pounces out from some nearby brush, narrowly missing a flock member’s feather plume-festooned head with a paw. A small contingent of chunky, dove-like birds cautiously patter around a clearing in a park in suburban Sydney.
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