A snow-white bird from Brazil’s Atlantic Forest has taken the title of loudest bird on Earth. The male bare-throated bellbird’s courtship call reaches 130 decibels, which is louder than a jackhammer.
According to Science News, João Menezes and Jeff Podos of the University of Massachusetts Amherst compared how loudly 123 bird species call. The bare-throated bellbird, found in forests near Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, came out on top, beating the 125 decibels recorded in 2019 for its Amazonian cousin, the white bellbird.
The study, published in the journal Evolution, found that bigger birds with wider beaks tend to be louder. That fits the bellbirds, which throw their beaks wide open to deliver a call that sounds like a hammer striking an anvil.
Why some birds have evolved such extreme voices is still an open question. The team found no single rule that explains it across all species, so there is plenty left for researchers, and the bellbirds, to shout about.
Source: Science News