Hear the Sound of Peacock Love Made by Trembling Feathers
Male peacocks quiver their tails to produce a drumroll-like rustle鈥攁nd also a vibration meant only for female peahens.
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Transcript:
This is BirdNote.
A peacock鈥檚 tail is magnificent. Four or sometimes even five feet in length, when opened it鈥檚 an iridescent wonder, shimmering and covered in giant spots.
And, as it turns out, when it comes to that wonderful tail, there鈥檚 even more than meets the eye.
As this male Indian Peafowl quivers his outstretched tail, it creates a rustling sound, almost like a drumroll.
Scientists call this the peacock鈥檚 鈥渢rain rattle.鈥 You might also call it the sound of peacock love.
That train rattle is also causing a vibration in the air that we humans can鈥檛 feel. But female peacocks, or peahens, can.
That low frequency rumble hits the sweet spot鈥also known as the resonant frequency鈥of both the male鈥檚 and female鈥檚 crest feathers. They start to vibrate in unison.
Peafowl also do a special wing shake, which seems to hit that same sweet spot.
Scientists aren鈥檛 quite sure how the train-rattle love buzz fits into peacock mating behavior. But for the first time, we鈥檙e starting to listen in.
For BirdNote, I鈥檓 Mary McCann.
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Credits:
Producer: John Kessler
Managing Producer: Jason Saul
Editor: Ashley Ahearn
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Assistant Producer: Mark Bramhill
Narrator: Mary McCann
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by Paul Marvin.
Peacock tail rustle by Alea Kittell.
Special thanks to Suzanne Amador Kane and Roslyn Dakin for their recordings and assistance. and
BirdNote鈥檚 theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
漏 2019 BirdNote July 2019