caeruleancentaur wrote:
>> Ollock Ackeop <ollock@...> wrote:
>
>> ...I decided to give them a syrinx -- which allows them
>> to produce two tones simultaneously.
>
> Is this really possible for birds? I never knew this. I'm hoping the
> answer is "yes," because I'd like to make it an anatomical feature in
> one of the loquent races in my conworld.
Yes, there are birds that produce different tones from each branch of
the syrinx. This can be heard in some recordings if you slow them down
(1/4 speed is good for this).
Here's a page with some 1/2 speed recordings of bird songs. The Veery
song on this page has a pretty clear example of singing two different
pitches at once.
http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~tony/birds/slo-mo.html