Hi all,
My wife has been observing a family of Grey Butcherbirds around our building
for a few weeks (which has been great fun for the kids as they're quite tame).
We don't know if it's the same for all GB families, but the ones round ours
have distinct male and female calls that make a moderately complex call and
response with each doing a couple of different phrases in turn. The adults are
more wary of us, but the chicks (one from this year and one form last) are very
tame and the youngest one flies to our balcony when my wife goes out and greets
her with a double bob of its head. This bird is starting to find its voice and
does the male's call, while the older chick does the female call. The youngest
one is still quite scratchy and the notes are a bit off, but is improving. My
wife's a good mimic of Grey Butcherbirds and if she whistles the male call, the
young female responds until she works out where it's coming from. The young
male will often sing with her for a few minutes in
return for a small piece of cheese (they only get one small piece a day - no
question of reliance as a) it's only a small piece and b) even when cheese is
offered, if an insect flies past, they'll ditch the cheese in favour of the
insect). Jo was taking some photos of the young male and when she moved the
camera round to take portrait shots, he craned his neck so his head was on its
side until she righted the camera again. They're quite a set of characters.
The big four field guides don't make any mention of gender and calls and
they're not even that clear on differentiating gender: Simpson and Day and
Pizzey and Knight mention the difference between males and females, but
Morcombe and Slater indicate all adults look the same.
Cheers,
Tony
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