Araponga-comum bird recorded at 130 dB, above the earlier 125 dB record, in a study of 123 species

The araponga-comum, a white-plumed South American bird about 27 centimeters long, can produce a mating call of 130 decibels, according to a study reported by correiodoestado.com.br. The level exceeds the noise at the front row of a rock concert and that of a drill on a construction site. correiodoestado.com.brcorreiodoestado.com.brcorreiodoestado.com.brOpen source ↗ It also tops the previous mark of 125 decibels, measured in a relative, the araponga-da-amazônia.

The work was published on 29 September in the journal Evolution. Its authors are João Menezes and Jeff Podos of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Gabriel Mindlin, a biophysicist at the University of Buenos Aires, took part in the analysis of the acoustic mechanisms that allow such an intense call from a relatively small animal.

Body size and bill width

The team compiled vocal loudness data for 123 species, which the researchers describe as the largest dataset of its kind. The pattern was consistent: birds with greater body weight and wider bills tend to produce louder songs.

According to the researchers, a larger body can generate more pressure and airflow during vocalization, while the bill opening affects how efficiently sound energy spreads into the surroundings. correiodoestado.com.brcorreiodoestado.com.brcorreiodoestado.com.brOpen source ↗ In this picture the bill acts like the opening of a loudspeaker: a narrow bill concentrates sound in a thin beam, a wide one distributes it over a broader pattern.

How the survey was done

The search began in mid-2019, when Podos and a colleague classified the araponga-da-amazônia as the loudest bird recorded up to that time. Podos then walked forests, wetlands and open fields in western Massachusetts with a high-precision sound meter and a laser rangefinder, cataloging calls of warblers, sparrows and thrushes.

Menezes, then a graduate student, joined to extend data collection in Brazil. He measured bird songs in the Atlantic Forest near São Paulo and in the mountains around Rio de Janeiro, from the soft sounds of the besourinho-de-bico-vermelho to the calls of the seriema.

The evolutionary reason for such extreme loudness remains unresolved. Mating behavior, habitat density and flight ability were evaluated, but none of them explains the phenomenon in all the species analyzed. correiodoestado.com.brcorreiodoestado.com.brcorreiodoestado.com.brOpen source ↗ The 130 dB measurement makes the araponga-comum a strong candidate for the loudest bird in the world.