A Bird With A Catlike Name — And Sound
Graphic to launch all the animal sounds in the series.
The world is full of unusual animal sounds — and among the more unusual is the call of bare-throated tiger heron.
Greg Budney, a biologist from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, recorded the call of one of these long-legged wading birds in Guatemala.
The heron, he says, has "spectacular plumage" like the markings of a tiger, only closer together. But that's not the only resemblance. "The moment you hear its voice, you can't help [but] think of a large cat," Budney says.
Budney's recording was made around nightfall, when the herons begin to call. He had been sitting around a campfire in the wild.
"As it vocalizes, it extends the neck outward about as far as it can possibly go. It gives this deep, low sound," he says.
"I had never heard one really close up like this," he says, "and we just all looked at each other around in the camp, in the light of the fire."
(Getty Images)
NPR's Christopher Joyce tracked down these recordings of animal sounds.
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STEVE INSKEEP, host:
One thing you get on Morning Edition that you get almost nowhere else in quite the same way is a chance to listen to the revealing sound of a voice. Might be the secretary of state, might be a person on the street, might even be a creature in the wild. In our series "Sounds Wild" we're listening to animal sounds. And today we'll hear the bare-throated tiger heron. This long-legged wading bird was recorded in Guatemala by Greg Budney, a biologist from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
(Soundbite of bare-throated tiger heron vocalizing)
Mr. GREG BUDNEY (Curator, Library of Natural Sounds, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology): The bare-throated tiger heron has a spectacular plumage, striped somewhat like a tiger, only the stripes being closer together, and a heavily feathered neck. And as it vocalizes, it extends the neck outward about as far as it can possibly go. It gives this deep, low sound.
When I was making this recording of the bare-throated tiger heron, it was nightfall, and that's when this bird begins to call. We were sitting around the campfire the night before and heard this bird vocalizing. And I had never heard one really close up like this. And we just all looked at each other around the camp in the light of the fire. And I immediately realized this is a great opportunity. I've got to get this. Undoubtedly the name was derived from the plumage having a tiger-striped pattern, but the moment you hear its voice, you can't help think of a large cat.
INSKEEP: NPR correspondent Christopher Joyce tracked down the sounds in "Sounds Wild." And you can find out more about the animals that make them at npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
