Yes of course Lyrebirds mimic but you will rarely hear the call of just one (other) species coming from a Lyrebird. If the sound is from Lyrebirds you will normally hear a whole string of sounds in rapid progression, interspersed with their own song (commonly all at the same volume). So not only is the mimicry usually slightly different from the model, the context is normally very different. So in truth you will usually know when the sound is coming from a Lyrebird. The same is to widely varying extents true of most other bird mimics (or vocal copiers – as they are mostly not true mimics, see the article: David S Dobkin 1979 ‘Functional and evolutionary relationships of vocal copying phenomena in birds’, Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie 50, 348-363. This is the best ever discussion of why birds mimic or at least a model on which to analyse it. I only know of the Regent Honeyeater to mimic just one other species at a time in a way that is in a context consistent with the model. But when they mimic Wattlebirds, the sound is slightly different (the same notes and sounds but not as loud or harsh). Philip —–Original Message—–From: birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@lists.vicnet.net.au] On Behalf Of Greg and Val Clancy Sent: Wednesday, 11 September 2013 2:21 PM To: Mark Young; birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] recordings of bird calls Hi Mark, Often males and females of the one species have slightly different calls, such as with the Powerful Owl and Pheasant Coucal. You can tell the sex by the call. Regional variation or the age of the bird can also lead to slight differences. Greg Regards Greg Dr Greg. P. Clancy Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide | PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460 | 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960 http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com —–Original Message—– From: Mark Young Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 1:54 PM To: birding-aus@lists.vicnet.net.au Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] recordings of bird calls Hi Yesterday I visited Buderroo NP early in the morning. I heard a bird call that I then checked against the calls I had on my phone. The call exactly matched the call of a Wonga pigeon in terms of notes sung and duration of the call ( the call I listened to was from a cd by Dave Stewart). I noted at the time that the call that that the recording of the pigeon seemed to be a bit higher than the call of the bird, which seemed a bit lower. At the time I put this down to the recording, but I wonder if I did hear the Wonga pigeon, or another bird mimicking it? They were plenty of lyrebirds in the area at the time, which may have also made that call. When a lyrebird mimics another birds call, is it exactly the same, or slightly different? Is there anyway to tell if the call you hear was made by the species that should make it, or it’s being mimicked? =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================