Figure 1: Presenting Whale Song . Cover of the August 1971 issue of Science (Vol. 173, no. 3997) displaying a photonegative image of the traced humpback whale song spectrograms from Payne and McVay’s article published within. The frontmatter indicates that this tracing was made by Roger S. Payn... More about this image found in Presenting Whale Song . Cover of the August 1971 issue of Science (Vol. 1...

Figure 2: Taking Apart the (Human) Voice with Spectrograms . 2a : The universal phonetic features from the spoken phrase “be up at five” are dissected via sound spectrography in J. C. Steinberg and N. R. French, “The Portrayal of Visible Speech,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1... More about this image found in Taking Apart the (Human) Voice with Spectrograms . 2a : The universal pho...

Figure 2b: Among the earliest spectrograms of underwater sound, the NDRC juxtaposed sounds from a naval destroyer vessel (top) with “deep sea ambient noise” (bottom). From Summary Technical Report Vol. 7: Principles and Applications of Underwater Sound . NDRC. Division 6 (Department of the Navy, ... More about this image found in Among the earliest spectrograms of underwater sound, the NDRC juxtaposed so...

Figure 3: Signals of Submarines, Noises of Whales . Another spectrographic juxtaposition shows the “sound of submarine” (left) and the “sound of whales” (right), with the intensity or “loudness” of the sounds represented by color contours. The illustration was provided to Life by Hank Walker an... More about this image found in Signals of Submarines, Noises of Whales . Another spectrographic juxtaposit...

Figure 4: Taking Apart the ( Whale ) Voice with Spectrograms . This graph from a 1959 WHOI “Vibragram analysis book” detailed the number of “moans” in different sound recordings as a function of their duration in seconds, using colored pencils to demarcate different recordings. A 1958 humpback ... More about this image found in Taking Apart the (Whale) Voice with Spectrograms . This graph from a 1959...

Figure 5: More Songs of Humpback Whales . As recorded from 1–2 April 1970 off Puerto Rico’s Mayagüez Harbor. Like Figure 1 above, this spectrogram should be read left to right and top to bottom, with each row demarcated on the far left by the frequency scale indicators (0-3 kHz). Unlike Figure... More about this image found in More Songs of Humpback Whales . As recorded from 1–2 April 1970 off Puerto ...

Figure 6: Drawing a New Science of Birdsong . From Peter Marler and Donald Isaac, “Song Variation in a Population of Mexican Juncos,” Wilson Bulletin 73, no. 2 (1961), 194; 203. Reproduced with permission from the Wilson Ornithological Society. 6a : Compilation of spectrograms from eleven Mexi... More about this image found in Drawing a New Science of Birdsong . From Peter Marler and Donald Isaac, “So...

Figure 6b: Marler and Isaac wrote that “It is in the structure of the component notes and syllables that we find the greatest diversity” (p. 202). They classified around 500 spectrographic “notes” as “vibrato” (5–8) or “non-vibrato” (1–4) and subdivided these classes based on “inflection”—e.g., up... More about this image found in Marler and Isaac wrote that “It is in the structure of the component notes ...

Figure 7: The Ocean is a Noisy Place . In addition to the long-form charts like Figure 1 above, Payne and McVay published more detailed diagrams like this one to delineate the structure of different themes and phrases within the song. The above shows the pattern of theme 3 on the left and theme... More about this image found in The Ocean is a Noisy Place . In addition to the long-form charts like Figu...

Figure 8: The 1970s Evolutions of Whale and Bird Song . 8a : Katy Payne traced spectrograms from Hawaiian humpback whale songs over the course of two seasons from 1976 to 1978, working to show not only the gross song pattern change over time as her work in Bermuda had shown, but the more detaile... More about this image found in The 1970s Evolutions of Whale and Bird Song . 8a : Katy Payne traced spect...

Figure 8b: Spectrograms of one village indigobird song type “tradition” changing over a period from 1972 to 1979 within a population at Lochinvar National Park, Zambia. Robert Payne [no apparent relation] wrote about “a process of accumulation of minor year-to-year changes,” such that the “song ty... More about this image found in Spectrograms of one village indigobird song type “tradition” changing over ...