Hi All,
We are having lovely soft rain in SEQ at the moment. I note from a previous
thread started by Margaret Cameron way back in 2007 that the subsong and
mimicry of Grey Butcherbirds has been discussed before. But in that thread
there was no inference between the weather and this behavior.
On both occasions we have had rain this week, one of our resident GBs has sat
on top of the open window of our wardrobe just under the eaves and sung its
beautiful soft subsong, mimicking Pied Butcherbirds, the sound of the wingbeats
of Crested Pigeons, Magpies and Noisy Miners. It is a wonderful thing to hear
especially as I can stand about 2 foot from the bird without being detected. If
it does get disturbed, it flies a short distance away and then returns to its
dry perch under the eaves before starting to sing again.
This is not new behaviour because last year during our very wet 'Wet', it
(they?) did exactly the same thing. In short, if it is not raining we only ever
here the usual (yet no less fascinating) loud duettings between our birds. I
would be very interested to
know if there is a strong the correlation between rain and the subsong mimickry
in this species, or is it just our birds that like "Singing in the Rain"???
Looking forward to hearing your views and experiences.
Regards
Judith
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