At this time it is considered that, worldwide, there are about 9,000 species of birds, of which approximately 4,300 belong to the group of so-called singing or song birds. Not all the birds that belong to this group ‘sing melodies’ since there are some, for example, the corvids, which limit themselves to expressing sounds devoid of musicality.
The difference between the song and the call is, in some way, arbitrary and it tends to be considered that the song is longer and more complex, and that it is associated with mating and courtship, while the calls have a different function, such as be an alarm signal in the face of danger or a sound to keep the group cohesive.
The variety of songs that we can find in the animal kingdom is enormous, from monotonous and endless notes like those played by Buscala pintoja, to others that are enormously complex and full of musicality. In this second group we find the song thrush, the blackcap, the common nightingale and the common blackbird.
Researchers who have approached the complex field of bird vocalization suggest that the production of a song is very complex and is based on the ability of the brain to direct the changes and combinations of the musculature. So the birds have to contract several muscles to change pitch.
Most of the songs are performed by the males and they do so from perch sites, although some species are capable of performing them in flight. They achieve this thanks to a bony structure that is located at the lower end of the trachea and is called syrinx – from the Greek surinx, Pan’s flute. Unlike what happens with our larynx, the syrinx of birds lacks vocal cords and the sounds are produced by the vibrations of the air passing through it.
Since the syrinx is located in the anatomical place where the trachea branches off to form the bronchi, there are songbirds that can produce two or more sounds simultaneously.
The air music lover
Mirlo (Blackbird) was the title of a song by the British group The Beatles, it was composed by Paul McCartney while he was in Scotland and for this he was inspired by the xenophobic events of Little Rock. The lyrics of the song begin with ‘Blackbird singing in the dead of night’ and, in effect, these birds have a certain predisposition to sing their melody at dawn and dusk.
the blackbird (Blackbird thrush) belongs to the Turdidade family and originally had migratory habits, but over time it got used to human activity and ended up establishing itself in a stable way. Its plumage is uniform, the females are brown and the males black.
These birds are virtuosic songbirds and are known for their fluffy, non-repetitive, melodic warble, made up of accelerated notes with a characteristic high-pitched ending.
improvisation
Experts have described the timbre of the blackbirds as “liquid, with a slight touch”, since there is a certain improvisation and dissonance. It could be said that it is the typical imperfection of great artists. Another of its singularities is that, unlike what happens with other species, there are no two blackbirds that sing the same, each individual develops a personal sound signature.
The figure of this bird throughout history has been wrapped in a certain halo of mystery, during the Middle Ages it was said that when the blackbirds begin to chirp the dead wake up and it was precisely in this bird that the devil metamorphosed when he visited San Benito to distract him from his duties.
In Celtic mythology his presence was associated with the evolution from rationality to spirituality. Knowing this, how could he not be an inspiration for the Beatles?