I have recorded Crested Shrike-tits giving mimicry, in Capertee Valley NSW.
On one occasion, late October 2000, the mimicry was of Brown Falcon calls
and wing sounds, two birds were perched facing one another. It was either a
confrontation between males, or a male trying to impress a female.
The other occasion was in March 2001, varied mimicry mixed with the usual
'knock-at-the-door' calls and downwards whistles (I have occasionally heard
upwards whistles also).
I remarked to a neighbour that the Crested Shrike-tits never feature in the
dawn chorus, and don't begin calling until later in the morning. My
neighbour who works with disadvantaged, street-wise kids, retorted: "it's no
wonder, with a hair-do like that..."
Vicki Powys
Capertee Valley, NSW
on 22/10/03 1:00 PM, Marc & Vikki Gardner at wrote:
> My only experience of CSTs mimicking was last year in Southern Queensland
> (at a place where Grey -crowned and white-browed babblers are found). I was
> specifically chasing white-browed babblers and thought I heard a babbler
> call, only to have my attention drawn to a pair of crested shrike-tits
> mucking about in some undergrowth and cackling like a pair of grey-crowned
> babblers mixed in with a few notes of their usual downward 'peeeer.' Dont
> know how common it is for them to mimic, but they must do it?
>
> Marc Gardner
> Julia Creek
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