birding-aus

Mimicry in Australian Raven

To: <>
Subject: Mimicry in Australian Raven
From: "kurtis Lindsay" <>
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:50:07 +1100
Hi all,

My friend & I were sitting in my backyard this afternoon when we heard a very 
unusual thing.
There was a juvenile and an adult Australian Raven perched in a small eucalypt 
the juv was making the standard semi-adult calls that young ravens make, then 
all of a sudden I heard the word "hello" uttered out of it.
My friend and myself sat quietly for a few minutes and surely enough, after a 
few squawks another "hello" was heard.
This went on for a little while and about 4 "hello's" were heard until the two 
birds flew off.
The juvenile raven and its parent have visited my yard nearly everyday for over 
a month collecting food from the backlawn, however this is the first I have 
heard one do this (ever).

I am aware the Corvids are intelligent, but I have never heard of a wild corvid 
immitating human speech.

I plan to listen out to hear more and attempt to catch a video.

Regards,

Kurtis Lindsay
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