# Northeaster US bird that copies tones **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964 "2020-03-21T16:14:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/21 "2020-03-23T20:54:09Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The [song of the Northern Cardinal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emwU6bH2vl0) is sometimes likened to smoke alarm. They are singing now in the northeastern US. > > It’s the cardinal’s natural song. They’re not mimicking anything. I was WtH? for a bit there. We have (non-northern) cardinals nesting around our house and nothing like a smoke alarm. The clip has a chirp-chirp-chirp standardish bird call. A lot of birds at our feeder sound like that. Nothing fire alarm-like to me. Except: When the battery is going then I’ve heard ones that chirp. But well spaced out. What I consider a “smoke alarm” sound would be raspier b-r-r-r-r-p type thing. Or a higher pitched variable whistle-like continuous [sound](https://youtu.be/YH5YNkzl1dI). And if cardinals actually did make a “smoke alarm” sound, then that would explain mockingbird/whatever making the sound. I guess some of this can be chalked up to the “ears of the hearer.” ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/22 "2020-03-24T16:39:10Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Your daughter is correct. They will continue to protect their nest, from ALL intruders, as long as it is occupied by their little ones. There is no cease-fire and no recognized neutral parties. I was hoping I could paint an owl’s face on the back of my hat and dissuade the mockingbird’s strafing runs. I really don’t want to adjust my route for a bird that probably weighs less than a couple of ounces. They usually attack from behind, and have yet to make physical contact, but come very close. I’ll probably take the safe way out and change my route. I would hate to lose an eye to a bird strike; especially since only one of them works, and you can’t count on the bird taking out the non-functional one. It’s also a bad time to put any additional stress on the medical system. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/23 "2020-03-24T17:01:05Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The clip has a chirp-chirp-chirp standardish bird call. A lot of birds at our feeder sound like that. I assure you they don’t sound like that to a birder. 😉 The clip I linked to is distinctive and instantly recognizable to any experienced birder in the Eastern US as the song of Northern Cardinal. There is nothing “standardish” about it to a birder. Some variants of the call may sound more like a smoke alarm. All I can say is that the cardinal song is often compared to a car or smoke alarm. > [@](#): > > And if cardinals actually did make a “smoke alarm” sound, then that would explain mockingbird/whatever making the sound. **Ynnad** didn’t say that a mockingbird was imitating a smoke alarm, just that some unidentified bird was making such a sound. Mockingbirds certainly imitate cardinals, and they also imitate car alarms. Starlings are also accomplished mimics and imitate car alarms etc. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/24 "2020-03-24T19:11:07Z")
When I lived in central AZ, I lived on the side of a mountain. One of my bedroom windows looked into a tree, it was fun to watch the birds hanging out. Until the day that a cardinal learned that if he sat on a tree branch about 3 feet from the window, the glass would amplify his calls most wonderfully. Asshole bird started at the crack of dawn, sounding just like a car alarm with reverb. I don’t usually care about other being’s sex lives, but I was seriously rooting for the damn bird to get laid so he would shut the fuck up! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/25 "2020-03-25T11:58:08Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I assure you they don’t sound like that to a birder. 😉 I’ve gone birding with an experienced birder and it is an amazing experience. He’d recognize a bird call and immediately know not only the species, but where we’d likely see the bird based on its known habits. There’d be a chirp I didn’t even hear. He’d point toward a bush, “there’s a house wren over there, Carolina wrens also occur around here, but it’s a little early. House wrens are nesting now, and that bush …”. Watching where he originally pointed we’d eventually spot a house wren. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/26 "2020-03-25T12:34:22Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’ve gone birding with an experienced birder and it is an amazing experience. He’d recognize a bird call and immediately know not only the species, but where we’d likely see the bird based on its known habits. > > There’d be a chirp I didn’t even hear. He’d point toward a bush, “there’s a house wren over there, Carolina wrens also occur around here, but it’s a little early. House wrens are nesting now, and that bush …”. Watching where he originally pointed we’d eventually spot a house wren. When we were on a tour in Panama they arranged for all of us to go to a spot with a birder and he blew my mind. Some brown thing flew past quite quickly and he was “that’s a orange-legged pink-billed spittoon bird\*” and when it landed I hastily paged through my dad’s bird book and it was. He did this with all the birds we saw, and the ones that landed, he was always right. I mean, I know a hummingbird, a Gambel’s quail and an American robin by sight. After that… \*name not necessarily accurate ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/27 "2020-11-14T16:00:34Z")
Suppose we cage a bunch of mockingbirds and play, “Popsicle Toes” by Dianna Krall, to them over and over again, for a few days. Then, we could sell these birds as pets, and make money. Dianna Krall is a great vocalist. She does a great job. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/28 "2020-11-14T18:10:07Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > When we were on a tour in Panama they arranged for all of us to go to a spot with a birder… Did it occur to anyone else that the birder kitap met might in fact have been @Colibri? ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/29 "2020-11-14T18:35:36Z")
[quote=“Chronos, post:28, topic:849964, full:true”] > [@kitap](#): > > When we were on a tour in Panama they arranged for all of us to go to a spot with a birder… Did it occur to anyone ethat the birder kitap met might in fact have been @Colibri? [/quote It occurred to me but the birder was a grad student. I’m still impressed, by the way, at how good he was at IDing birds flying past us. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/30 "2020-11-14T19:24:24Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > It occurred to me but the birder was a grad student. I’m still impressed, by the way, at how good he was at IDing birds flying past us. If he was working at the Smithsonian, I might know him. A lot of it is just knowing what’s around. There might be dozens of little brown birds in the bird book, but not so many likely at the spot you are. And birders rely on habitat, habits, flight style, and a lot of other things to make an ID. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/31 "2020-11-14T21:52:59Z")
The worst bird call I’ve ever encountered (piercingly electronic) belonged to the Houston-area grackle. What’s worse is when they decide to emulate a Hitchcock movie. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8Mb9x0YwU3g/hqdefault.jpg "Thousands of black birds - aka grackles - take over parking lot in Houston") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mb9x0YwU3g) ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964/32 "2020-11-14T21:54:17Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > > [@kitap](#): > > > > It occurred to me but the birder was a grad student. I’m still impressed, by the way, at how good he was at IDing birds flying past us. > > A lot of it is just knowing what’s around. There might be dozens of little brown birds in the bird book, but not so many likely at the spot you are. And birders rely on habitat, habits, flight style, and a lot of other things to make an ID. I’m sticking with it being a magical power. My dad did know - they were in grad school together - a birder who retired to Panama. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northeaster-us-bird-that-copies-tones/849964.md?page=1)