mimicry question

[Filipio Gwynne <>]

Thanks Philip.  I recall reading a detailed review article several years ago which concluded that the evidence for various hypotheses concerning the usefulness of avian vocal mimicry was actually pretty scant, certainly far from conclusive in any direction. Nonetheless, I retained an impression from somewhere that the sexual selection explanation may have been on somewhat firmer ground in relation to Bowerbirds (Satin in particular) -- i.e. males being favoured by the size and/or novelty of the repertoire they use in display.  

So, it seems no easy give-away for the sex of this bird or others like it that visit my garden in the period before the male's bill starts to become pale.

Phil.

On Sat, May 12, 2018 at 6:07 PM, Philip Veerman <> wrote:

Good question. I was going to give a comment on this, as it raises lots of interesting and related questions, like about various possible strategies, and I have a long interest in this. However, before doing so, I just now checked in HANZAB and fortunately that describes that yes both sexes of Satin Bowerbird engage in vocal mimicry. (I did not know, but that is the answer I expected).

 

Philip

 

From: Filipio Gwynne [mailto:m("gmail.com","filipio.gwynne");" target="_blank">com]
Sent: Wednesday, 9 May, 2018 2:45 PM
To: COG List
Subject: [canberrabirds] mimicry question

 

Trying to spot an occasional softly but characteristically creaking Gang-gang in my Cook backyard yesterday, it remained stubbornly elusive as I seemed to hone in on a quite unlikely-looking dense leafy shrub. When it suddenly seemed an alarmed magpie-lark must have been keeping it very close company, I realised I was actually closing in on a Satin Bowerbird running through its mimicry repertoire.  And there it was - a Female or Juvenile Male. Spent a nice additional 10 mins or so listening as it seemed to warm up -- sure there was a bit of a raptor call in there of some sort too, along with, perhaps, rosellas and definite noisy miners.

 

Can I ask someone with a HANZAB, do both sexes engage in mimicry? My own limited sources are a bit ambiguous on this, as is the internet. 

 

Cheers,

 

Phil Winn.