naturerecordists
[Top] [All Lists]

Mimics and mistakes

Subject: Mimics and mistakes
From: Steve Pelikan <>
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 09:47:53 -0400
Friends:

Walt's puzzle about phrases from a Mockingbird (what is it imitating?)
is a context to let me mention one of my out of the way projects which
is to record birds singing songs that they shouldn't. A NoMo supposed to
sing other bird's songs.

But a Towhee that sounds like a Blue Jay or (in the example below) a
House Finch that sounds like a Northern Cardinal is doing something
unusual. I suspect that this sort of thing is caused by a young bird
learning its song from the wrong adult. This sort of thing could happen,
for example, if nests of 2 birds are nearby and the male from one nest
removed from the area (eg dead).

The HoFi/NoCa example is at=20=20
http://math.uc.edu/~pelikan/hofi/HoFiNoCa.html

I'd be interested in hearing or hearing about any similar examples
you've encountered.

Cheers!

Steve P


________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the naturerecordists mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU