Bird Mimicry

The songs of birds have inspired and impressed mankind for
centuries. But some species of songbirds and talking birds also
have the ability to replicate the songs of other birds, and sounds
of farm animals, machines, or human speech.
 
Among the recordings selected from the world's largest collection
of nature sounds held at the British Library are recordings of
a starling in Herefordshire sounding like an owl, a jackdaw and a
chicken; and a marsh warbler imitating a blackbird and a magpie.
More astonishing still are examples of untrained wild birds
incorporating machine sounds into their vocal performances.
One track stars a blackbird in London that imitates a computer
modem, and another is of a jay that neighs like a horse, and
from New Guinea comes the sound of a bowerbird as it imitates
the hammering and sawing noises of house repairs.
 
Track listing
 
1 STARLING (Sturnus vulgaris)
0.16 Jackdaw calls
0.10 Tawny Owl ‘kewik’ call
0.44 Starling mimicry of domestic fowl, Jackdaw, Curlew, Lapwing, Buzzard and Tawny Owl
2 CORN BUNTING (Miliaria calandra)
0.23 Yellowhammer song
1.14 Corn Bunting mimicry of Yellowhammer
3 JAY (Garrulus glandarius)
0.29 Buzzard calls
1.45 Jay mimicry of Buzzard (background: Chiffchaff, Woodpigeon)
4 SUPERB LYREBIRD (Menura novaehollandiae)
1.35 Mimicry of Pied Butcherbird, Kookaburra, Australian Thrush, Whipbird.
5 BLACKBIRD (Turdus merula)
6 RED-BACKED SHRIKE (Lanius collurio)
0.38 Swallow song
1.45 Red-backed Shrike mimicry of Swallow and Song Thrush
7 GREAT TIT (Parus major)
0.14 Nuthatch calls
0.18 Great Tit mimicry of Nuthatch
8 WHINCHAT (Saxicola rubetra)
0.14 Bullfinch song
1.04 Whinchat mimicry of Bullfinch
9 MARSH WARBLER (Acrocephalus palustris)
0.27 Great Tit calls
0.37 Blackbird calls
0.39 Magpie calls
10.37 Mimicry of many species including Great Tit, Blackbird, Magpie, Greenfinch, Swallow, etc.
10 SONG THRUSH (Turdus philomelos)
0.20 Quail song
0.43 Song Thrush mimicry of Quail
11 RUPPELL’S ROBIN CHAT (Cossypha semirufa)
0.25 Red-chested Cuckoo song
5.48 Ruppell’s Robin Chat mimicry (edited) of many Kenyan birds
12 NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD (Mimus polyglottus)
0.07 Common Nighthawk flight song
0.47 Cardinal song
3.10 Mockingbird mimicry of Common Nighthawk, Wood Thrush, Northern Cardinal and others
13 SPOTLESS STARLING (Sturnus unicolor)
0.29 Scops Owl song
2.59 Spotless Starling mimicry of Scops Owl and other birds
14 LAWRENCE’S THRUSH (Turdus lawrencii)
5.02 Lawrence’s Thrush is an extraordinarily versatile mimic, accurately copying many different species of Amazon forest birds in a succession of short phrases, in this example: manakins, antbirds, other thrushes and many more.
15 SKYLARK (Alauda arvensis)
0.23 Curlew calls
0.39 Skylark mimicry of Curlew
16 BLYTH’S REED WARBLER (Acrocephalus dumetorum)
0.29 Pied Wagtail calls
3.45 Blyth’s Reed Warbler mimicry of Pied Wagtail, Blackbird calls, and other bird species
17 WOODCHAT SHRIKE (Lanius senator)
0.26 Wryneck song
1.36 Woodchat Shrike mimicry of Wryneck
18 CALANDRA LARK (Melanocorypha calandra)
0.32 Goldfinch song and calls
1.11 Calandra Lark’s flight song, mimicking Goldfinch and Swallow
19 WHEATEAR (Oenanthe oenanthe)
0.11 Meadow Pipit calls
0.33 Wheatear mimicry of Meadow Pipit
20 BLACKCAP (Sylvia atricapilla)
0.39 Nightingale song
0.43 Blackcap mimicry of Nightingale
21 JAY (Garrulus glandarius)
1.19 Jay mimicry of horse neighs
22 BULLFINCH (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
0.29 German folk melodies: ‘Golden Sunrise’ and ‘A Hunter from Kurpfalz'.
23 RAVEN (Corvus corax)
0.07 Mimicry of human speech (‘hello’) by a caged bird
Surrey, England, July 1998, Richard Ranft
24 BUDGERIGAR (Melopsittacus undulatus)
0.41 Mimicry of human speech by ‘Sparkie Williams’, a champion talking budgerigar
25 BLACKBIRD (Turdus merula)
0.57 Mimicry of a computer modem by a wild Blackbird in urban surroundings
26 FAWN BREASTED BOWERBIRD (Chlamydera cerviniventris)
3.01 Spontaneous mimicry by a Bowerbird of the sounds of metal ladders, hammering, sawing, the rattles of a ball bearing inside a paint spray can, and Pidgin English speech of workmen who were mending the tin roof on a house.