I know that parrots can “parrot” the human voice but can any other birds learn the “songs” of other birds?
Mockingbirds and catbirds are fairly famous for this.
Mockingbirds can, although I’m not sure how their accents are - Wikipedia says it’s more a way to impress females, who apparently really like polyglots. Florida Scrub-Jays are not impressed.
No, seriously, mockingbirds who learn French apparently get the most cloaca.
I remember seeing that video but totally forgot about it.
I’ve heard the claim that some birds born through ‘brood parasitism’ will mimic the songs of their hosts. Don’t know of a cite to confirm this. In ‘brood parasitism’ the egg(s) of another bird replace those of a host in the host’s nest. The ‘parasite’ may mimic various behavior of the host. Besides receiving food and/or protection from the host, this might also help the parasite continue the practise through generations.
Thanks for reminding me of that. Attenborough’s original ‘Life on Earth’ series is still the best nature documentary I’ve ever seen. Beware of altered versions intended to enhance entertainment value by removal of ‘dull’ educational stuff.
Lots of birds mimic the songs of other birds, including the already mentioned mockingbirds, catbirds, and lyrebirds, plus starlings, some thrushes, chats, and others. Besides parrots, starlings and the related mynas, and also ravens and magpies can be taught to mimic the human voice,
A bird rehab place I volunteered at years ago had a couple crows that talked or mimicked other sounds. They were definitely crows, not ravens.
I read somewhere about a colony of lyrebirds that imitated a particular violin piece. Ornithologists were somehow able to trace it to a fiddler who had lived nearby some decades before. It had been passed down for a couple of generations among the lyrebirds.
Astonishing creatures. The chainsaw noise can’t help but sadden you.
I had parakeets who learned to imitate the twiddly, high-pitched electronic ring of my telephone. Drove my parents nuts when they bird-sat the little buggers at their house while I was on vacation!
When I was a kid living at home, we usually had a parakeet or two in the house. One of these birds learned to imitate what we kids used to say “Hey Mama!”, much to the irritation of my mother, who didn’t particularly appreciate being called Mama by a bird.
One of our cockatiels learned to mimic the ring of my cellphone (this was after cellphones but before ringtones).
How he used it is more interesting. He liked my wife much more than he liked me, and when she was away from home, he figured out that she’d call home some time before she arrived. This cockatiel would hang out with me while she was away, but eventually he’d get lonely for her and make the cellphone ringing noise and cock his head at me as if to say “Answer that and make Mama appear!”
I once had a conure that had been kept by the cashier in the pet store. I eventually realized that the chuk-chuk-chuk-ching! noise that he made was him imitating the cash register. He also got good at sneezes because I had allergies. At first I thought he was actually sneezing but he was only imitating me.
Bird languages, to explicitly state what’s already been said, are not genetic. They have to be learned. A bird that’s raised in community A will sing community A’s song. If raised in isolation, it will sing a generic song. If you take it from A to community B, it will either learn that song or continue singing A’s song. IIRC, it depends on what age at which you transfer the bird.
It depends on the species whether or not the bird will make up its own song, exactly replicate the song of its community, or some middle option.