Hi All,
We are having lovely soft rain in SEQ at the moment. I note from a previous thread started by Margaret Cameron way back in 2007 that the subsong and mimicry of Grey Butcherbirds has been discussed before. But in that thread there was no inference between the weather and this behavior.
On both occasions we have had rain this week, one of our resident GBs has sat on top of the open window of our wardrobe just under the eaves and sung its beautiful soft subsong, mimicking Pied Butcherbirds, the sound of the wingbeats of Crested Pigeons, Magpies and Noisy Miners. It is a wonderful thing to hear especially as I can stand about 2 foot from the bird without being detected. If it does get disturbed, it flies a short distance away and then returns to its dry perch under the eaves before starting to sing again.
This is not new behaviour because last year during our very wet ‘Wet’, it (they?) did exactly the same thing. In short, if it is not raining we only ever here the usual (yet no less fascinating) loud duettings between our birds. I would be very interested to know if there is a strong the correlation between rain and the subsong mimickry in this species, or is it just our birds that like “Singing in the Rain”???
Looking forward to hearing your views and experiences.
Regards
Judith
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Hi Jude,
Julie, from the Blue Mountains also reported that her GBs did the same thing.
So whilst Michaels’s experience and Hanzab records support this being post breeding behavior, it looks like that is not the whole story. David Stuart from Nature Sound has provided me with contact details for someone who did their PhD on GBs and I will contact her with these observations as well as providing her with a poor quality recording.
BTW, my bird is called Gene Kelly!
Regards
Judith
Hi Judith
I too have noticed that our Pied Butcherbirds do exactly the same thing when it rains, either heavy or light. They will come in under the patio and ‘chatter’ away so many different sounds. They don’t do this anywhere near as often when it’s not raining. So I’m with you … they like Gene Kelly, are ‘singing in the rain’.
Jude
Hi Judith I too have noticed that our Pied Butcherbirds do exactly the same thing when it rains, either heavy or light. They will come in under the patio and ‘chatter’ away so many different sounds. They don’t do this anywhere near as often when it’s not raining. So I’m with you … they like Gene Kelly, are ‘singing in the rain’.
Jude