16 Fascinating Birds That Can Mimic Sound
Birds can generate multiple sounds, from honks and croaks to trills and peeps. Most of the time, the captivating sounds of some birds force us to look at them. Some birds are active during the day, and some at night, like owls. Owls are famous for hooting at night, but sometimes they hoot during the day for specific purposes.
Some birds can mimic the sounds of other birds around them. Northern Mockingbirds, Grey catbirds, Hill Myna, Bluejays, Parakeets, American crows, ravens, and others can copy the sounds of other birds. The deeper you read the article, the more you will explore. Dive into it and unveil the concepts hidden within.
Birds That Can Mimic Sound
Bird lovers are often curious about the bird’s sounds that they make, and even they love to hear their sounds. If you came here with the question, what birds can mimic the sounds of other birds? Congrats! you have full coverage of those birds here. Let’s start without any delay.
1- American Crow
American crows are large and intelligent birds, well-known for their hoarse caws. They can eat almost everything and possess 20-plus crow-specific calls, including rattles, coos, and clicks. American crows can copy other birds and even human speech and mimic various sounds they hear in their environment.
2- Northern Mockingbird
The Latin name of the northern mockingbird is Mimus polyglottos, which means “mimic of many tongues.” It can learn more than 200 songs. The typical song of this bird is a half-and-half blend of mockingbirds-specific calls and imitated phrases.
3- Amazon Parrot
Amazon parrots are included in popular pets, native to South America, Mexico, and parts of the Caribbean. They are some of the best talkers and can learn a lot of words and phrases to capture our attention. They often heard talking, making horn calls, singing, and even screaming.
4- Lyrebirds
Lyrebirds are famous for their rich songs and remarkable mimicry skills. Native to Australia, they are named due to the curved, string-like appearance of their tails during courtship display; 80% of their song is mimicry. Lyrebirds can mimic birds like kookaburra and copy the sounds, including car alarms, dog barks, and chainsaws.
5- Hill Myna
Hill Myna is a member of the Starling family and is native to the hill areas of South and Southeast Asia. Gracula religiosa is its Latin name, which may indicate the rumored practice of training mynas to say prayers. They create loud, shrill whistles, gurgles, and screeches in the wild and can not copy other bird’s sounds.
FunFact: They can mimic sounds like human speech and skillfully whistle tunes in captivity.
6- European Starling
This stunning bird displays white spots in winter, while in summer, they show sleek, iridescent black coats. The starlings found in North America come from the group of 100 starlings that were brought to Central Park in the late 19th century by the group who wanted to introduce every bird to the US, as mentioned in Shakespeare. They can learn the sounds of more than 200 species, including red-tailed hawks, meadowlarks, northern flicker, wood thrush, and American robin.
7- Raven
Ravens are another bird that can mimic people. They have more than 100 vocalizations and can learn to mimic human speech and other sounds they hear, such as coughing.
Read More: Do you have a pet Raven?
8- Grey Catbird
This bird is related to thrashers and mockingbirds. It has a grey-colored appearance with a black head top. Grey catbirds live in thickets, and their long song can last surprisingly more than 10 minutes. Males can sing loudly to declare the territory theirs.
9- Bowerbird
Male bowerbirds are known for their brilliant colors and intricate courtship displays. They build elaborate structures from rocks, flowers, twigs, and glossy insect exoskeletons, where they dance to attract females. They produce multiple vocalizations like chitters, crackles, and hisses and can also mimic other birds and human sounds they typically hear around them.
10- African Grey Parrot
This bird is so intelligent that it has got the nickname “The Einstein of the Bird World.” After hearing human words once or twice, it can often mimic them. It can even acknowledge what they say and learn household sounds like alarms.
11- Yellow-Breasted Chat
They live in bramble bushes, thickets, and shrubs. This Olivia-green bird has a grey face with a yellow breast. The vocalization sounds of these birds are like hoots, clucks, cackles, and whistles.
12- Parakeet
Parakeets are also known as budgies or budgerigars. The Latin name of this bird is Melopsittacus undulatus, which means “songbird with wavy lines.” They are native to Australia, found in large flocks, and are popular pets. Although they have shorter lifespans than parrots, they quickly learn a rich vocabulary of phrases and words.
13- Macaw
This bird has a long tail and bright colors and is more significant than all other parrots. It is native to Central and South America and Mexico and can live more than 60 years in the wild. Macaws can learn to talk and imitate the calls of other birds they hear in their environment.
14- Brown Thrashes
The calls of these birds are like smacking kisses, chirrups, hisses, and harsh whistles. Brown thrashers can sing up to 1,100 songs and mimic other birds like Northern Flickers, Wood Thrushes, and Chuck-Will’s Widow. The sounds of Chuck Will’s Window confuse the sounds of owls because they are among the birds that produce sounds like owls.
15- Steller’s Jay
They live in coniferous and coniferous-deciduous forests. Steller’s Jay produces harsh sounds like shake-shack-shack, chook-chook-chook, or hissing rattles. Their sound is often confused by the sound of owls. They can also copy the screams of hawks.
16- Australian Magpie
Other corvids like ravens and crows, this bird has a wide variety of complex calls. They can mimic more than 35 species of birds and animals like horses and dogs. Those who are in contact with humans can also imitate speech.
How Birds Can Mimic Sounds?
Birds possess different voice boxes compared to other creatures. In humans, animals, and reptiles, sound is created by the larynx, folds of tissues that vibrate at the upper part of the throat. Speech, barks, roars, meows, and grunts originated from the larynx.
Birds also possess larynxes, but their vocalization and songs come from syrinx. This structure is lower than the larynx and is controlled differently compared to the larynx. It is how birds can create different sounds and mimic other birds.
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Wrapping Up
Some birds stand out in avian wonders because of their capacity to mimic other birds. These birds include the American crow, European starling, Amazon parrots, lyrebirds, and many more discussed above. They can mimic other birds and, in captivity, even human speech. Due to this mimicry feature, these birds catch the attention of bird enthusiasts.
