Magic Bird Whistle - Can imitate dozens of bird calls - Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage of China

Buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/suizhongbao

This is not an ordinary whistle, but a magical bird whistle that can imitate dozens of bird calls without extra tools! Give it to children, and they will be incredibly happy!

I think this is the charm of 3D printing! I used 3D printing to replicate a bird whistle, one of Shanghai's intangible cultural heritages!

No bamboo, no manual craftsmanship needed, just one-click send to print. Less than 10 grams of filament, it's truly amazing.

I have uploaded two versions: normal size and scaled-down size. Please choose which to print yourself. There is also a print profile containing both specifications on one plate.

Any filament can be printed perfectly!

Below is an encyclopedia entry about bird whistles:

Bird whistle craftsmanship is a traditional blowing technique used in Shanghai's coastal tidal flat areas to lure and capture birds. Its prototype can be traced back to the 'bone whistle' of the Hemudu period. In 2007, it was listed in Shanghai's first batch of municipal intangible cultural heritage (traditional sports, recreation, and acrobatics). This technique uses bamboo whistles to imitate bird calls and is now mainly used by research institutions to attract migratory birds for banding studies and for bird dispersal at airports. The technique was formed during the survival practices of immigrants in the Nanhui Jiatang area in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. It entered a rapid development phase around 1949, reaching its peak use in the 1960s and 1970s. The construction of Penggongtang and Ligongtang during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty led to the expansion of tidal flats. Local farmers formed bird-catching groups for survival and developed bird-imitating whistle skills, which later gradually transformed into folk art performances. Municipal representative inheritors include Jin Weiguo, Zhu Delong, and Yuan Juping, among whom Jin Weiguo can imitate over 60 bird calls and has assisted in banding 50,000 birds.

Previously, bird whistles were made from green bamboo, and only experienced inheritors could successfully craft them perfectly. Because there were no samples or design drawings,

I could only replicate this magical bird whistle based on video materials. I think it was very successful.

Here is a video about the original bird whistle for your reference:

Because I don't know the specific blowing technique, I cannot imitate dozens of bird calls. However, I did manage to produce many different sounds myself, which made me very happy!

I'm open-sourcing this bird whistle, hoping everyone can try it themselves and see if you can produce more bird calls!

Blowing Techniques:

When blowing the bird whistle, you need to control the airflow changes with the tip of your tongue to produce long notes, short notes, high pitches, and low pitches, sometimes resonant and clear, sometimes sharp and bright. Skilled inheritors can imitate dozens of bird sounds for courtship, foraging, signaling, and distress calls, making them almost indistinguishable from real birds. The small bird whistle may seem ordinary, but using it to imitate various bird calls is not an easy task. To master the skill of 'bird summoning', you first need to recognize different bird species, learn to distinguish various bird calls, and then gradually apply the bird whistle to produce the sounds you want to imitate.

Specifically, everyone needs to try it slowly themselves. My personal experience is to gently bite the mouthpiece with your teeth and control the airflow changes through different movements of your lips, tongue tip, cheeks, etc., to produce different sounds. Covering or not covering the circular air hole with your lips will also produce different sounds. I hope everyone succeeds.

If you succeed, please share your experience with everyone in the comments section!

Warning⚠️:

If you just blow this whistle hard, it will make a very loud sound. Trust me, do not try it, it is truly deafening!!!