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Songbird mimicry and response to ambient noise levels

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: Songbird mimicry and response to ambient noise levels
From: L&L Knight <>
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2006 09:57:00 +1000
http://www.int.iol.co.za/ index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=vn20060324064424240C962696

Birds make song and dance about anything
Steve Connor
March 24 2006 at 02:13PM

London - If your computer modem sounds a little odd - try checking the tree outside. According to a new CD released by the British Library on Friday, what sounds like the search for a connection may, in fact, be a blackbird in full voice.

The CD, Bird Mimicry, is compiled from recordings held by the British Library Sound Archive which stores the world's largest collection of the sounds of nature.

Birds can mimic almost any sound, whether it comes from an animal within earshot or inanimate objects such as a squeaky farm fence, a mobile phone or a digital alarm clock. Starlings have been known to learn the high-pitched, duo-toned screech of a car alarm.

The sound archive's CD includes Sparkie Williams, a champion talking budgerigar, and the hand-reared bullfinches which were taught German folk tunes.

"As the birds were taught the same tunes by different trainers, each bird sings a slightly different version as if two humans were whistling the same song," said a sound archivist, Cheryl Tipp.

Then there's the Fawn-breasted Bower Bird in Papua New Guinea which learnt the sounds made by workmen mending a tin roof: the noise of hammering, sawing - even the rattles of a stray ball-bearing.

Mimicking sounds is an integral part of how birds learn to build up the vital repertoire of songs that they need to defend a territory or attract a mate, said Tim Birkhead, an ornithologist at the University of Sheffield.

"For a bird it makes no difference whether the sound is from an artificial source, from another bird or whether it comes from its dad," Birkhead said. "Mimicry is the basis for how they acquire their songs and there are whole categories of birds that will happily incorporate other strange sounds into their songs to produce a vast, rambling repertoire."

Marsh Warblers and starlings are particularly good mimics and have been known to pick up and incorporate the distinctive songs of other species.

"I once knew of a captive Goldfinch with a distinctive song. Within three months, local starlings had learnt to imitate it. They were still singing the song two years after the Goldfinch had died," Birkhead said.

Andre Farrar, a spokesperson for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said that his father used to call his Jack Russell terrier with a distinctive whistle. The local starlings soon learnt to imitate it and quickly learnt how to "call" the dog to the bottom of the garden.

"There's an evolutionary advantage to birds who augment their songs. Females of many species choose those males with the most complex songs, so there is a biological imperative to imitate sounds," Farrar said.

Perhaps the strangest mimic is the Black-throated Honey-guide of Africa which mimics the sound of a bees' nest to attract the attention of people, then guides the humans to the hive itself to share the spoils.

But beware - birds don't like noisy neighbours. Studies have shown that as ambient noise from towns increases, so does the tendency for songbirds to move to quieter sites.

Inexperienced birds are forced to build their nests close to busy roads. Experienced birds establish their territories well away from traffic. - The Independent

This article was originally published on page 9 of Cape Times on March 24, 2006

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