Birds have the amazing ability to mimic sounds and the calls of other birds. This talent is known as vocal mimicry. There are a number of bird species that are excellent vocal mimics, impersonating sounds from their environment and other birds. Mimicry serves several purposes for birds, including defending territories, attracting mates, avoiding danger, and more.
| Bird Species | Mimicry Uses |
|---|---|
| Lyrebirds | Attracting mates, defending territory |
| Mockingbirds | Attracting mates, defending territory |
| Parrots | Bonding, avoiding danger |
Some of the most skilled avian mimics include lyrebirds, mockingbirds, parrots, and mynas. Let’s take a closer look at some of these vocal copycat birds.
Lyrebirds
Lyrebirds are songbirds that are native to Australia. They are considered some of the best mimics in the avian world. Lyrebirds have incredible vocal abilities and can imitate almost any sound they hear, including the sounds of other birds, insects, animals, human-made noises, and even chainsaws! They incorporate these mimicked sounds into their elaborate, complex songs.
Male lyrebirds use mimicry to defend their territory and to attract females during courtship displays. By showing off their vocal skills, they demonstrate to females that they are fit and healthy. The quality and variety of mimicked sounds in their songs indicates their physical condition. Males with the best mimicry skills tend to be more successful at reproduction.
Superb Lyrebird
The superb lyrebird is renowned for its capacity for mimicry. A single male superb lyrebird can mimic an incredible range of sounds – over 20 species of native birds, as well as dogs barking, camera shutters, car alarms, chain saws, and even the human voice. The superb lyrebird’s syrinx, a sound-producing vocal organ, allows it to reproduce almost any sound with great accuracy.
During courtship displays, male superb lyrebirds sing loud, complex songs while they dance around in circles, ruffle their feathers, and wave their tails over their heads. Their songs can incorporate hundreds of different mimicked sounds.
Albert’s Lyrebird
Albert’s lyrebird is slightly less adept at mimicry than the superb lyrebird but can still imitate the calls of around 15 species of birds near its rainforest habitat. Uniquely, Albert’s lyrebirds often mimic the sounds of drips and drops of water in their elaborate songs. Scientists believe this shows the birds’ connection with the wet, dense rainforests where they live.
Mockingbirds
Mockingbirds are master vocal mimickers. They can imitate the songs and calls of over 50 different species of birds. They also copy sounds from insects, amphibians, mammals, and man-made objects.
Male mockingbirds sing complex songs incorporating their mimicked sounds to mark their territory and attract mates. A male mockingbird may learn around 200 songs during its life. The variety and originality of songs improve their chances of attracting a female.
In addition to acquiring songs through mimicry, mockingbirds also compose their own unique songs. So mockingbird songs are a mix of mimicked sounds and original tunes.
Northern Mockingbird
The northern mockingbird is renowned for its song mimicry abilities. Native to North America, this species can copy the songs of over 20 different birds including warblers, thrushes, vireos, and hawk imitations.
Northern mockingbirds also mimic sounds from their environment such as car alarms, squeaky gates, and barking dogs. A single male mockingbird can learn around 200 different songs during its lifetime. Due to their vocal talents, northern mockingbirds are kept as pets. However, they don’t always make great pets as they can sing throughout the night.
Bahama Mockingbird
Found only on the Bahama Islands, the Bahama mockingbird mimics the calls of native Bahama songbirds like the bananaquit, grey catbird, and pearly-eyed thrasher. Unusually, the Bahama mockingbird does not mimic human-made sounds like car horns or cell phone ringtones. Scientists believe this shows how the mockingbird’s habitat shapes its vocalizations.
Parrots
Parrots are renowned for their ability to mimic human speech and other noises. They have specialized vocal anatomy that allows them to reproduce sounds with exceptional accuracy. Some parrot species are better mimics than others. The African grey parrot is especially skilled when it comes to speech mimicry.
Parrots may mimic noises for several reasons:
- To bond with their owners
- To communicate with fellow parrots
- To identify with flock members
- To warn of danger by mimicking predator calls
African Grey Parrot
The African grey parrot has a reputation as one of the best talking parrots. They can start mimicking speech as young as 8 weeks old. African greys can build vocabularies in excess of 200 words and phrases. Some exceptional birds have been recorded with vocabularies of over 1000 words!
African greys don’t just repeat words, they apply them appropriately and appear to understand the meaning of the words. For example, saying “nut” when presented with a nut. Their advanced mimicking abilities may be related to their exceptionally high intelligence compared to other parrot species.
Yellow-naped Amazon
The yellow-naped Amazon parrot is an excellent mimic capable of reproducing many sounds. In the wild, these parrots mimic thecalls of other birds and animals. As pets, they often mimic household sounds like doorbells and phones ringing.
Yellow-naped amazons have strong vocabularies of around 100-800 words. However, their speech mimicry is less advanced than the African grey parrot’s abilities.
Mynas
Mynas are a group of tropical birds that belong to the starling family. They are adept vocal mimickers of other birds, animals, and human speech. Mynas appear to mimic sounds for display purposes and entertainment rather than using it for territorial reasons.
Some myna species including the hill myna and common hill myna are such talented vocal mimics that they are popular as pets. They can be taught to “speak” many phrases and words.
Hill Myna
Native to Asia, the hill myna is renowned for its talking ability in captivity. It can mimic human speech, other household noises like phones ringing, musical instruments, and other pet sounds like dogs barking. Hill mynas mimic out of curiosity and enjoyment and make lively, entertaining pets. They can build vocabularies of 100-200 words.
Common Hill Myna
Like the hill myna, the common hill myna is an accomplished mimic as a pet. They excel at reproducing human speech, telephone rings, and whistling tunes. Common hill mynas can learn vocabularies of up to 300 words and phrases when kept in captivity. In the wild, they mimic calls of other birds and animals native to their habitat in India and Southeast Asia.
Why Birds Mimic
Birds mimic sounds for several key reasons:
- Attracting mates – Male songbirds like lyrebirds and mockingbirds mimic sounds to demonstrate their fitness to females.
- Defending territories – Mimicking warns rival males to stay away.
- Avoiding danger – Some birds mimic the calls of predatory bird species to scare predators away from their nests.
- Bonding – Pet birds mimic speech to bond with their human owners and as entertainment.
- Fitting in with their flock – Mimicry helps some pet birds identify with humans.
Researchers are still learning about other reasons birds use vocal mimicry. More studies are needed to fully understand this fascinating bird behavior.
Mimicry Ability in Birds
A bird species’ ability to mimic sounds depends on anatomical factors, intelligence, habitat, and more.
| Factor | Details |
|---|---|
| Physical vocal anatomy | Birds like lyrebirds have specialized syrinx organs that allow accurate mimicry. |
| Intelligence | Smarter parrots like African greys can mimic speech better than other birds. |
| Habitat | Birds mimic sounds native to their environment. |
| Social structure | Mimicry is more common in birds that live in social flocks. |
Researchers hypothesize that the ability to vocally mimic arose in birds through evolution as it provided advantages like deterring predators, finding mates, and defending territories. More comparative studies between avian mimics are needed to better understand what anatomical and neural factors allow some birds to mimic better than others.
Mimicry in Other Animals
While birds are the masters of vocal mimicry in the animal kingdom, some other animals also exhibit this ability to a lesser extent:
- Primates – Some great apes like gorillas and chimpanzees can mimic human speech and sounds but not as accurately as parrots. Gibbons also mimic calls.
- Whales and dolphins – Orcas mimic dolphin calls and vice versa. Beluga whales can mimic human speech to some degree.
- Seals – A few seal species copy human speech and music in captivity. However, it’s not clear if wild seals mimic.
- Elephants – Elephants can mimic truck engines, lion roars, and some human speech sounds. However their vocal mimicry skills are limited compared to birds.
Researchers theorize vocal mimicry evolved in these mammals for similar reasons to birds – establishing social bonds, deterring predators, defending resources and more. However, anatomical constraints in their vocal systems limit most mammals’ mimicry compared to avian vocal mimics.
Conclusion
Birds have evolved remarkable skills to vocally mimic sounds from their environment. Master avian mimics include lyrebirds, mockingbirds, parrots, and mynas. Mimicry provides birds advantages like attracting mates, defending territories, avoiding danger, and bonding. A bird’s mimicry ability depends on factors like vocal anatomy, intelligence, and habitat. While a few mammals exhibit some mimicry, no other animals can match birds’ abilities to copy sounds. Birds’ vocal mimicry remains one of the wonders of the natural world. Their unrivaled mimicry skills are a testament to natural selection’s power to shape amazing behaviors.
