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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Not as a conventional hard drive. Benn Jordan described converting a simple drawing into a sound pattern, exposing a European starling called The Mouth to it, and later finding a similar pattern in the bird’s vocalization when displayed as a spectrogram. The demonstration supports acoustic-pattern learning and reproduction—not exact storage of PNG bytes or a verified transfer rate of nearly 2 MB per second.
What the experiment actually did
Reports describe a four-stage process:
- A simple drawing was represented as a sound pattern using a spectral-synthesizer approach.
- The sound was played to The Mouth, a European starling cared for by Sarah Tidwell.
- Jordan later inspected recordings of the bird’s vocalizations.
- A vocalization with a similar image-like form appeared when displayed as a spectrogram.
The bird did not need to interpret the drawing as an image. Its role was to reproduce sound; the human observer recognized the pattern in the resulting spectrogram.
Image to sound to birdsong to image
A spectrogram displays sound by mapping frequency over time. A deliberately constructed sound pattern can therefore render as a visual shape when shown this way.
The reported process can be summarized as:
drawing → synthesized sound → starling vocalization → spectrogram
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If a bird produces a sufficiently similar acoustic pattern, its spectrogram can resemble the source pattern. That is evidence of acoustic-pattern reproduction, not proof that the original image’s exact digital data were recovered.
Why a starling could reproduce such an unusual sound
The demonstration involved a starling, a vocal-learning bird, and an individual bird that Jordan described as capable of reproducing sounds. In an interview reported by The Register, Jordan characterized starlings as able to “effectively record and replay nearly any sound that they hear.” That is his broad characterization, not a measured finding about every starling.
The Mouth was the individual in this reported demonstration. The result does not establish that other starlings—or birds generally—can reproduce the same pattern. The available reporting does not provide a controlled comparison across birds.
What does “up to 2 MB/s” mean?
The nearly 2 MB/s figure is a hypothetical estimate, not a measured transfer speed. Contemporaneous coverage attributes to Jordan an estimate of approximately 176 kilobytes of uncompressed information represented by the reproduced signal. He also discussed a hypothetical audible file-transfer protocol assuming a 10:1 compression ratio, producing a rate near 2 MB/s under those assumptions.
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Neither figure establishes a storage capacity or sustained throughput. The reports do not show:
- that arbitrary files can be encoded and recovered;
- bit-for-bit or lossless recovery of the original drawing;
- a measured, repeatable transfer rate or error rate;
- random access or retrieval on request; or
- a defined retention period or independent replication.
The careful description is that the starling reproduced an encoded acoustic pattern that could be recognized in a spectrogram. The nearly 2 MB/s number is an attributed hypothetical calculation, not a bird-storage benchmark.
Is the bird actually storing the file?
Only in a broad, metaphorical sense. The bird reproduced a learned vocal pattern, and a human observer saw a resemblance to the source drawing when the sound was displayed as a spectrogram. The reporting does not establish that the bird stored or retrieved a digital file.
| Conventional data storage | What the demonstration showed |
|---|---|
| Preserves defined digital data | Reproduces an acoustic pattern with recognizable visual structure in a spectrogram |
| Can be evaluated for exactness and errors | No bit-for-bit comparison or measured error rate is reported |
| Can support defined access and retrieval methods | Repeatable retrieval on request or random access is not established |
| Can be tested for retention over time | A defined retention period is not reported |
Calling this “a bird remembering a file” may capture the surprising result, but calling it a practical storage medium would go beyond the evidence.
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What readers can realistically explore
Readers can explore how sound patterns appear in spectrograms by recording audio and viewing it with spectrogram software. This can illustrate the visualization concept, but it will not reproduce Jordan’s demonstration or establish that a bird has stored data.
- Record audio. Keep the original recording so it can be compared with later visualizations.
- View it as a spectrogram. A spectrogram maps frequency over time, making some sound structure visible.
- Compare cautiously. A visual resemblance does not prove identical audio or recovery of digital data.
A portable audio recorder is one optional way to capture birdsong for later listening or analysis. The Register and Tom’s Hardware describe Jordan’s specialized microphone setup, including ultrasonic capture; an ordinary consumer recorder should not be presented as equivalent to that setup.
When professional wildlife recorders make sense
Specialized acoustic equipment may suit field research that requires particular recording capabilities or extended deployment. It is not necessary just to learn what a spectrogram is, and the available reporting does not establish that any particular consumer recorder can reproduce Jordan’s setup.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A note about animal welfare
This story is most valuable as an example of reported vocal learning and signal representation, not as a reason to treat birds as data devices. Do not use prolonged, stressful, or coercive repetition with a companion or captive bird. When recording wildlife, avoid persistent disturbance or interference with animals’ normal behavior.
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The real scientific lesson
The demonstration connects three ideas:
- Information representation: a drawing can be represented as a sound pattern.
- Animal learning: the reported starling reproduced an acoustic pattern.
- Signal analysis: a spectrogram made recognizable structure visible in the vocalization.
The reports describe a creator-produced demonstration, not a peer-reviewed storage study. They do not establish arbitrary-file storage, exact recovery, repeatable retrieval, measured errors, long-term retention, or independent replication. The result is striking, but it does not show that birds can replace conventional storage devices.
So, can you store data on a bird? In this demonstration, a starling reproduced an encoded acoustic pattern that resembled a simple drawing in a spectrogram. That is not the same as verified digital file storage, and the nearly 2 MB/s figure was hypothetical rather than measured.
FAQ
Did the starling really store a PNG file?
No. The reports describe a sound pattern made from a drawing and a similar pattern in the bird’s vocalization when displayed as a spectrogram. They do not establish that the bird stored arbitrary PNG bytes or reproduced them losslessly.
Did the bird achieve 2 MB per second?
No measured bird-storage rate is reported. The figure was a hypothetical estimate based on an assumed compression ratio, not a tested transfer benchmark.
What does a spectrogram show?
A spectrogram maps frequency over time. It can make a sound’s structure visible, so a sound deliberately formed as a pattern may resemble a drawing when visualized this way.
Can other starlings do the same thing?
The reported demonstration involved The Mouth, one individual bird. The available reporting does not establish that other starlings can reproduce the same pattern.
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