Okay, but is the dawn chorus getting quieter?

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About this episode

E30. That wall of birdsong outside your window at sunrise has a name, a structure, and a surprising amount of drama. This week Scott talks with Dr. Dan Mennill, a professor at the University of Windsor who wires whole forests with microphones to eavesdrop on the entire neighborhood at once, about what the dawn chorus is actually for, and what it means when it starts to thin out. In this episode: Why dawn, why so loud, and who gets to sing first (hint: it's not about who's the best singer) What 16 microphones and kilometers of cable revealed about birds negotiating in real time What happened when one field site went quiet, and why that quiet is louder than it sounds Listen now, then tell us…