Bird Mimicry: A Remarkable Collection of Imitations by Birds (audio CD)

Read reviews
Marvel at the sounds of a Shropshire Jay that neighs like a horse and a Blackbird in London that imitates a computer modem. From the world's largest collection of nature sounds (held at the British Library), this CD features some of the rarest recordings ever captured - it includes 26 tracks of incredible avian imitations.

Listen to sample sound clips using
Windows Media Player:
Jay mimicry of a whinnying pony.
A Fawn-breasted Bowerbird mimics workmen sawing wood and hammering.

Reviews
`This is a bird song CD with a difference – play the Great Tit track and you will hear a Nuthatch, play the Song Thrush track and you will hear Quail and play the Jay track and you will hear the mewing of a Common Buzzard and the neighing of a horse!... These are just a few of the surprises from this remarkable CD, which signs off with a series of imitations of humans and machines, including a captive Bullfinch whistling German folk melodies and a Blackbird mimicking the sound of a computer modem.` Simon Papps, Birdwatch Magazine

Full 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
Herefordshire, England, May 1968, Victor Lewis

2 CORN BUNTING (Miliaria calandra)
0.23 Yellowhammer song
1.14 Corn Bunting mimicry of Yellowhammer
Pembrokeshire, Wales, July 1978, Antony Pearce

3 JAY (Garrulus glandarius)
0.29 Buzzard calls
1.45 Jay mimicry of Buzzard (background: Chiffchaff, Woodpigeon)
Shropshire, England, March 1982, Heather Myers

4 SUPERB LYREBIRD (Menura novaehollandiae)
1.35 Mimicry of Pied Butcherbird, Kookaburra, Australian Thrush, Whipbird.
A historic recording with commentary, originally released on a 78 rpm disc, of one of the most famous of all avian mimics
Australia, 1931

5 BLACKBIRD (Turdus merula)
4.47 In the middle of this recording, a singing Blackbird seems to pause while listening to a Golden Plover (heard in the background) flying high overhead. The Blackbird then delivers two instantaneous versions of his own.
North Yorkshire, England, May 1992, Richard Margoschis

6 RED-BACKED SHRIKE (Lanius collurio)
0.38 Swallow song
1.45 Red-backed Shrike mimicry of Swallow and Song Thrush
Norfolk, England, June 1990, Richard Margoschis

7 GREAT TIT (Parus major)
0.14 Nuthatch calls
0.18 Great Tit mimicry of Nuthatch
Karlstad, Sweden, April 1982, Stieg Carlson

8 WHINCHAT (Saxicola rubetra)
0.14 Bullfinch song
1.04 Whinchat mimicry of Bullfinch
Shropshire, England, May 1974, Victor Lewis

9 MARSH WARBLER (Acrocephalus palustris)
0.27 Great Tit calls
0.37 Blackbird calls
0.39 Magpie calls
10.37 Mimicry by a Marsh Warbler, perhaps the most accomplished mimic found in Europe, of many species including Great Tit, Blackbird, Magpie, Greenfinch, Swallow, etc.
Worcestershire, England, June 1986, Martin Kelsey

10 SONG THRUSH (Turdus philomelos)
0.20 Quail song
0.43 Song Thrush mimicry of Quail
Herefordshire, England, May 1981, Victor Lewis

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 including Red-chested Cuckoo
Nairobi, Kenya, 1986, David Pearson

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
Bristol, USA, May 1973, J.-C Roché

13 SPOTLESS STARLING (Sturnus unicolor)
0.29 Scops Owl song
2.59 Spotless Starling mimicry of Scops Owl and other birds
Candelada, Spain, May 1990, Howard Phelps

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
Madre de Dios, Peru, September 1985, Richard Ranft

15 SKYLARK (Alauda arvensis)
0.23 Curlew calls
0.39 Skylark mimicry of Curlew
Essex, England, April 1986, John Fisher

16 BLYTH`S REED WARBLER (Acrocephalus dumetorum)
0.29 Pied Wagtail calls
3.45 Blyt`s Reed Warbler mimicry of Pied Wagtail, Blackbird calls, and other bird species
Parikkala, Finland, June 1966, Patrick Sellar

17 WOODCHAT SHRIKE (Lanius senator)
0.26 Wryneck song
1.36 Woodchat Shrike mimicry of Wryneck
Southern Spain, April 1966, Claude Chappuis

18 CALANDRA LARK (Melanocorypha calandra)
0.32 Goldfinch song and calls
1.11 Calandra Lark`s flight song, mimicking Goldfinch and Swallow
Golan Heights, Israel, April 1980, Philip Hollom

19 WHEATEAR (Oenanthe oenanthe)
0.11 Meadow Pipit calls
0.33 Wheatear mimicry of Meadow Pipit
Montgomeryshire, Wales, April 1969, Victor Lewis

20 BLACKCAP (Sylvia atricapilla)
0.39 Nightingale song
0.43 Blackcap mimicry of Nightingale
Hampshire, England, May 1966, Victor Lewis

21 JAY (Garrulus glandarius)
1.19 Jay mimicry of horse neighs
Surrey, England, April 1991, Philip Hollom

22 BULLFINCH (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
0.29 Three short recordings of hand-reared captive Bullfinches whistling German folk melodies: `Golden Sunrise` and `A Hunter from Kurpfalz` by one bird, then a second bird trained in a variation on the second melody
Hessen Uplands, Germany, 1968 and 1971, Jürgen Nicolai

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
Newcastle, England, 1958
Courtesy of EMI Records Ltd, p 1958 EMI Records Ltd.

25 BLACKBIRD (Turdus merula)
0.57 Mimicry of a computer modem by a wild Blackbird in urban surroundings
London, England, May 1998, Madeleine Prangley

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.
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, August 1993, Ian Burrows