birding-aus

Satin Bowerbird Mimicry

To: "Evan Beaver" <>
Subject: Satin Bowerbird Mimicry
From: "Alistair McKeough" <>
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:13:24 +1000
I want bowerbirds in my backyard.

Clearly I will have to move.

2008/6/18 Evan Beaver <>:

> Hi Kurtis,
>
> I've observed similar behaviour with our resident female Satin BB.
> She'll sit in the conifer in the backyard, for an hour or more,
> mimicking one species at a time. Aussie raven is a favourite, also the
> YTBC, Glossy-Black and even Ringtail possum. Have you heard it imitate
> anything else? Unlike Superb Lyres, ours seems to lock onto one bird
> at a time, rather than rolling constantly through the whole
> repertoire.
>
> I'd often thought the fascination with the raven was a strategy to
> scare off intruders. She almost always hides in the foliage, and sits
> very still...
>
> EB
>
> On 6/18/08, Kurtis Lindsay <> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I have been watching a juvenile Satin Bowerbird which has been sitting in
> a eucalypt in my backyard for the past twenty minutes.
> > The interesting thing about this bowerbird is, despite uttering the usual
> satin bowerbird calls (the odd 'mechanical' buzzing, chattering and
> scolding) it is mimicing the calls of one other bird, the Yellow-tailed
> Black Cockatoo.
> > YTBC's aren't very common around my place, but bowerbirds are. The thing
> I find unusual though is how this bird is only mimicing one other species
> (it is doing a pretty good job of it too).
> > The rendition involves the complete 'advertising call' of the
> Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (the call they use in flight - "wheeeeeelya"),
> along with the softer calls YTBC's use while feeding, and I'm pretty sure I
> can even hear an imitation of the 'cracking' sounds YTBC's make when they're
> feeding on Banksia pods or Pine Cones.
> >
> > Perhaps this young Bowerbird is having identity issues and is striving to
> become a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo! :)
> >
> > Just then a group of Noisy Miners flew in to mob the imposter and drive
> it away. They failed!
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Kurtis Lindsay
> > www.birding-aus.org
> > birding-aus.blogspot.com
> >
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> > to: 
> >
>
>
> --
> Evan Beaver
> Lapstone, Blue Mountains, NSW
> lat=-33.77, lon=150.64
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