birding-aus

Mimicry by Grey Butcherbird and others (was GreyButcherbird mimicry)

To: "Margaret Cameron" <>, "michael norris" <>, <>
Subject: Mimicry by Grey Butcherbird and others (was GreyButcherbird mimicry)
From: "Greg & Val Clancy" <>
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 13:32:12 +1100
Hi Margaret,

I wrote a short note on mimicry by the Olive-backed Oriole and Spangled Drongo for Australian Birds in 1982 - 'Some records of the Olive-backed Oriole and Spangled Drongo mimicking other bird's calls' (1982) Aust. Birds 16: 62-63.

In this note I describe hearing an Olive-backed Oriole at Iluka, north coast NSW, mimicking the calls of at least 13 other bird species. They were the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Grey Butcherbird, Noisy Miner, Eastern Rosella (two duetting), Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Lewin's Honeyeater, Grey Shrike-thrush, White-cheeked Honeyeater, Australasian Figbird, Little Wattlebird, Rufous Whistler, Eastern Whipbird, and Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike. There were a couple of other calls that I couldn't identify, one of which was probably the White-eared Monarch's. Orioles at South Grafton were record mimicking some of these calls as well as the Australian King-Parrot, Whistling Kite, Blue-faced Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater and Pied Butcherbird.

So you can see that Orioles can and do mimic a variety of birds' calls both large and small and predatory and non-predatory.

Regards

Greg Clancy
Ecologist
Coutts Crossing
NSW




<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 birding-aus 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