-Sally Siko

One of the loudest birds in North Carolina is the Carolina Wren.
This tiny little bird has a great big voice with song vocalizations reaching an astounding 90-110 decibels.
For comparison this means that at full volume the Wrens voice may be as loud as a Steel mill-auto horn at 1 meter, a Turbo-fan aircraft at takeoff power at 200 ft or even a riveting machine!
But how does a bird of diminutive size produce such an incredibly loud song?

The answer lies in the Carolina Wren’s vocal anatomy. Unlike the human voice, which comes from the larynx way up at the top of the windpipe, a Wren’s song comes from deep within its body.
Birds produce song in a structure called the syrinx, which located at the bottom of the windpipe where the bronchial tubes diverge to the lungs.
The syrinx is surrounded by an air sac, and the combination works like a resonating chamber to maintain or amplify sound.
Incredible!

I found this one at the Brumley North Nature Preserve near Chapel Hill, NC spending a rare quiet moment preening on a branch.
We watched one another for a few minutes without a sound until another Wren called out from the wood line and this one flew off to investigate.
It was nice to be able to get a proper look at one without having to cover my ears 😉

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my beloved full frame 50MP beast, the mighty @canonusa #5Ds