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I really doubt that the mimicry of the Spangled
Drongo is mainly for entrapment.
The bird in my yard was doing calls of the Rainbow
Bee-eater which flies over regularly, or occasionally sits on the Electricity
wire, but the Black-faced Monarch has never visited, and never would be in that
habitat. Do birds get bored? It seemed to me more for self
amusement!
We also went haring after a Riflebird call in a
nearby forest one day a few years ago - thinking it a strange place for a
Riflebird - and again found the culprit to be a Spangled Drongo.
Recently, I tried to find another bird doing
mimicry at the Hyatt Regency at Coolum Beach, but was unsuccessful.
It was down in a gully near the littoral
rainforest, and copying Eastern Whipbird, Brown Thornbill, and a couple of
others which I now can't recall, but I'd only have marked it at 6 out of 10,
whatever it was! Had thought of a Drongo or even an Oriole,
but decided against them. Am left to ponder forever.
Robyn
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