Our Friend The Turkey (Ornicopia 10)

432. Which bird in the United States has the largest tail?   

Many birds have extremely long tail feathers, both in proportion to their bodies and in actual length.  The ring-necked pheasant, brought to American from Europe and naturalized, has the longest tail feathers.  Its relative, the golden pheasant, often raised by pheasant fanciers, has an even longer tail.  Of the native birds, the wild turkey has the longest tail feathers while the scissor-tailed flycatcher has the longest in relation to its body length. In all these instances, it is the male bird of the species that shows the extreme length of the retrices.

435.   How do birds with extremely long tails such as the pheasant or very broad tails like those of the turkey control them?   

Among the multitude of skin muscles of a bird are many that control the tail making instantaneous work of extreme adjustment whether tilting, fanning or contraction.

365.   Is it true that some birds produce musical sounds with their wing feathers?  

Goldeneye ducks are often called whistlers by hunters because of the whistling sounds produced by their wing feathers as they fly.  Similar sounds are produced by the wing feathers of other birds, among them mourning doves, as they fly.

Many birds produce sounds deliberately with their wing feather.  Among such birds are the ruffled grouse, which makes booming sounds, turkeys that make clicking sounds, and woodcock, which, with wing feathers having special development, plunge downward through the night, causing the air to whistle through them.

366.  Does the sound made by the wing feathers serve any purpose?   

The sounds produced by the wing feathers of grouse, turkeys and woodcock all play a part in courtship activities.

NOTE:  This post is dedicated to my mother, Joan Brown Roberts, who really loved the wild turkeys who lived in her meadow in Tuxedo Park, New York and made us love and appreciate them also.  Here's one (link).


From:  1001 Questions Answered About Birds by Allan D. Cruickshank and Helen G. Cruickshank (Toronto, General Publishing Company, 1958)

Ornicopia 2: Is it true that a woodcock sings with its wings?

    

American Woodcock

 

578.  Is it true that a woodcock sings with its wings?

Many birds produce very musical sounds with their wings.  A mourning dove generally leaves its perch with loudly whistling wings, and a duck called the goldeneye produces such a loud sweet sound with its wings that hunters call it the "whistler".  The woodcock has an elaborate flight song and a good part of the twittering musical sounds are actually produced by air rushing through the special stiff, attenuated outer wing feathers.

Goldeneye Duck


 

Mourning Dove

579.  What bird sings with its tail? 

One may say the common snipe sings with its tail.  On rapidly vibrating wings, it gives its flight song high above the marsh.  It circles around and around, periodically dashing downward and producing an eerie ventriloquistic sound, as the air rushes past its unique rigid outer tail feathers.

Common Snipe

From:  1001 Questions Answered About Birds by Allan D. Cruickshank and Helen G. Cruickshank (Toronto, General Publishing Company, 1958)

Goldeneye family crossing the road



Video: The Lovely Goldeneye Courtship
Video: Common Snipe In Regent's Park
Video: American Woodcock (Move It, Move It)
Video: Mourning Dove on a brisk winter's day