[HN Gopher] Why do some birds mimic the sounds of other species?
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Why do some birds mimic the sounds of other species?
Author : jpoersc
Score : 28 points
Date : 2025-03-11 10:15 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.allaboutbirds.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.allaboutbirds.org)
| anenefan wrote:
| Sometimes it's just fascinating thinking about the evolution of
| why some birds mimic - for instance one could spend a lifetime
| every time a flock [1] Sulphur crested cockatoos that have
| decided to roost and feed nearby listening to them screech for
| hours and not hear any other variation of trying to mimic other
| bird species - but infrequently I and others will note a few when
| perhaps they've noted us, try to imitate phrases of those well
| meaning folks who set out bird feeding stations for them.
|
| But I consider myself blessed that about 35 years ago when
| certainly there was a larger amount of birds species as well as
| general bird population, one year (unsure of season) I witnessed
| one particular nondescript brown bird about the same size as a
| magpie that had an amazing range of bird differing bird calls. I
| could recognise about half I thought at the time, and over a few
| days wondered what it's own call was. More often it made an
| incredibly raspy call, that was similar to both the (nocturnal)
| native possum and (nocturnal) flying fox species that inhabit the
| region. Since it could mimic so well, and the rasp was quite
| distinct to me from either possum and flying fox, I eventually
| assumed that the raspy call was its own. Why blessed - I
| witnessed something clever on the birds part, being chased out of
| a tree by another small flock of similar sized birds, it looped
| up high above, coming down imitating a whistling kite [2] with
| the flock scattering leaving the shady tree all for its own ...
| well ____ me, down the rabbit hole and it solves a 35 + personal
| mystery where when I tried to identify the bird and was made to
| feel stupid by those I asked for perhaps not being familiar with
| what either a possum or flying fox sound like and of course told
| I was mistaken in what I'd observed. Most likely what I'd seen
| was a spotted bowerbird [3] ... I haven't to my knowledge seen
| once since in all that time and I used to bush walk around the
| tropical scrub at least once a month up until a few years ago --
| now less frequent.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulphur-crested_cockatoo [2]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistling_kite [3]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_bowerbird
|
| > _When approached by humans or other potential threats, males at
| bowers and females at nests often mimic the calls of predatory
| birds such as the wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax), blue-winged
| kookaburra (Dacelo leachii), grey-crowned babbler (Pomatostomus
| temporalis), grey butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus), pied
| butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis), Australian magpie
| (Gymnorhina tibicen), Australian raven (Corvus coronoides),
| apostlebird (Struthidea cinerea) and honeyeaters (Meliphagidae
| spp.) among others_
|
| Edit for clarity
| MrMcCall wrote:
| It's so cool for you to have been blessed like this.
|
| You may very well enjoy David Attenborough's series "The Life
| of Birds". I know my family has. Of course, all of DA's nature
| series are fantastic.
|
| "The Private Life of Plants" (6 parts) is one of my favs, but
| they're all great.
|
| Here's the list:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_Collection
|
| The only one I didn't know about (until now) is "Life in the
| Freezer". He also has one-offs and the "Planet Earth" series as
| well.
|
| What a life! One of the very few human beings on Earth who
| deserves a 'Sir' in front of his name.
| anenefan wrote:
| Having not seen a live lyrebird, (they're not in Northern
| Queensland) watching and listening to a bird in person that
| could mimic equally as well some of the various birds about
| was something - watching the bird finally succeed in scaring
| off the flock occupying the tree - I did wonder if it was
| pure coincidence. I should point out that prior to its
| success, the bird sat in the tree for a time going through
| it's great number of different bird calls, and hopping
| between branches towards the flock from time to time and
| being chased back out of the tree only to return with another
| volley of calls. These loop of calls would sometimes include
| the whistling kite but the flock I think sensed there was no
| kite sitting in the branches where this bird was sitting and
| didn't react. At the time I just thought, oh what a strange
| song bird flitting about advertising its presence and it
| wasn't until the bird flew way above the tree and down though
| the top branches with the whistling kite call that I twigged
| there was more to its behaviour.
|
| David Attenborough's tv series I enjoy if I've got time to
| watch. I do believe recalling watching the same segment with
| the lyrebird imitating the camera.
| MrMcCall wrote:
| > I did wonder if it was pure coincidence.
|
| "There are no coincidences." --Master Oogway
|
| "There seems no plan because it is all plan." --CS Lewis
|
| > that I _twigged_ there was more to its behaviour.
|
| :-)
|
| Peace be with you, friend.
| numb7rs wrote:
| Based on the title, I was hoping for an explanation. Instead the
| article is a collection of "maybe it's this?" points.
|
| It's still great that Cornell Lab provide resources like this.
| Another project of theirs, BirdNET [0], is fantastic for
| identifying bird song.
|
| [0] https://birdnet.cornell.edu/
| MrMcCall wrote:
| All scientific exploration begins with the humble
| acknowledgement that there are aspects of our wonderfully
| mysterious universe that we simply can't explain (yet).
|
| Curiosity then leads us to discover!
| MrMcCall wrote:
| Here's the one that blows my mind:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSB71jNq-yQ
|
| It's from one of (our honorary Uncle) David Attenborough's nature
| series, where a Lyre bird is imitating an analog professional
| camera, a car alarm, and a chainsaw. If I hadn't watched it well
| over a decade ago, I don't think I'd believe it.
|
| Search YT for 'lyre bird imitating chainsaw' for a choice of
| vids.
| jiggawatts wrote:
| They're fairly common near where I live. Sometimes when I'm on
| a hike in the mountains enjoying the wonderful variety of bird
| songs I come to the realisation that nope... there's just one
| bird there.
| itchingsphynx wrote:
| Yeah amazing, and his name is Chook.
|
| >"...two of his three lyrebirds were captives, one from
| Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary and the other from Adelaide Zoo.
| This latter individual, Chook, was famed for his hammers,
| drills, and saws, sounds he reputedly acquired when the Zoo's
| panda enclosure was built."
| https://theconversation.com/lyrebirds-mimicking-chainsaws-fa...
| hnlmorg wrote:
| I've seen that video maybe a dozen times since it was first
| aired and I'm still constantly flabbergasted each time.
| HankB99 wrote:
| As a teen I worked in a pet shop and a Mynah - the shop pet -
| had learned to imitate a squeaky hamster wheel.
| card_zero wrote:
| I'm trying to remember the bird that stands guard for another
| species, and mimics their alarm calls on seeing predators, but
| when hungry throws in an occasional lie so that they drop their
| food and run. Something African I think.
|
| Edit: I was thinking of the Fork-tailed Drongo, which does this
| to meerkats.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork-tailed_drongo#Kleptoparas...
| Mountain_Skies wrote:
| A bird sanctuary I went to in the Amazon had a bunch of
| parrots, macaws, and similar birds that had been seized from
| various businesses and criminals. Some of them had been taught
| to recite a bar's drink specials or to swear. I was quite the
| odd cacophony of calls.
| fibonachos wrote:
| There was (mockingbird?) near my home in the 90s who did a
| solid imitation of the multi- tone aftermarket car alarm that
| was common around that time. I recall being annoyed by it at
| the time since it often happened in the early morning hours. I
| kind of miss it now (or I'm just a little nostalgic for the
| sound of the time period).
| technothrasher wrote:
| When I was a teenager in the late 80's, I ran a BBS and a
| mockingbird outside my window learned the "paging sysop"
| beeps the computer made. It was very confusing, and like your
| bird, it was annoying because it was usually in the early
| morning hours.
| toast0 wrote:
| The mockingbirds where I lived from 2009-2018 only sang the
| song of the car alarm. The original species became rarer and
| rarer, and generational distortion snuck in. It was
| definitely interesting comparing which parts of the alarm
| were mocked well and which were outside the range.
|
| Otoh, really annoying on hot nights when everyone had their
| windows open and the damn things keep chirping all night. A
| neighbor found if you yell shut up really loud, you'll get
| about 5 minutes of peace.
| ddtaylor wrote:
| I haven't gone back in a few years to read some of the puzzles
| and I for sure "capped out" at some point, possibly just out of
| fatigue, but the book To Mock a Mockingbird kind of themes all of
| it's problems around how birds have different songs.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Mock_a_Mockingbird
| HankB99 wrote:
| > Blue Jays imitate the calls of Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, and
| Broad-winged hawks, for example.
|
| I've seen this. We've had Red Tailed Hawks nesting in the area
| and used to hear them calling every morning. (True fact: Most
| "eagle calls" in media are Red Tailed Hawks because they sound
| more intimidating than the chittering from Bald Eagles.) One
| morning I was out and about and heard the "hawk" in the tree
| directly above me. I stopped and searched through the branches
| which were just starting to develop leaves. A bird the size of a
| hawk should have been easy to spot. After searching for a minute
| or two, I spotted a Blue Jay hopping around the lower branches.
|
| > The function of these imitations is unknown.
|
| I have a couple guesses.
|
| * Blue Jays being jerks. * Blue Jays mob hawks and maybe just
| wanted to find one in the area. * Blue Jays just wanted to see
| what - if anything - would react to the potential presence of the
| hawk in the area.
| card_zero wrote:
| I heard a blue jay mimic a golf trolley's squeaky wheel. They
| will mimic any sound, it's a sex thing, it doesn't have to be
| complicated.
| ilamont wrote:
| The Onion did a spoof about this, the "Montana Merkle,"whose
| human-like call has resulted in it almost becoming extinct:
| https://youtu.be/5D2VdaM8OcM?si=52J07cq3W_-RWPp8
| dboreham wrote:
| A few years into the LLM age and we're still asking questions
| like this?
|
| Just like language in humans, the birds' brains are ingesting
| training data and emitting similar output data, when they
| discover that they have the necessary I/O devices to do so.
| ckjellqv wrote:
| So your answer to the question is "because they can?" I don't
| think we needed the LLM age for us to be able to say that. That
| is to say, I think the article is giving the birds a bit more
| agency than next-token prediction engines.
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