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- Title
A Corn Bunting (Emberiza calandra) imitating Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) song.
- Authors
Swart, Jan M.; Zavadil, Vít
- Abstract
A Corn Bunting (Emberiza calandra) consistently performing the song of the Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) was observed in Central Bohemia during the breeding seasons 2012 and 2013. As is normal for Yellowhammers, the bird used three variants of the opening phrase, while the endphrase, when sung fully, corresponded to the local Yellowhammer dialect. Imperfections in the imitation included rising pitch in the opening phrase and ticks and “srp” sounds at the beginning and the end. The bird also imitated long series of “dzip” and “tsp” sounds that belong to the normal Yellowhammer repertoire. We documented seven Yellowhammer territories in the direct neighbourhood of the bird's territory, while no other Corn Buntings were present in the wider surroundings. Never-before published sonograms based on recordings by Antony Pearce reveal that a Corn Bunting in Pembrokeshire (Great Britain) imitated Yellowhammer in a similar way in 1978.
- Subjects
MILIARIA calandra; EMBERIZA citrinella; BIRDSONGS; BIRD vocalizations; MIMICRY (Biology)
- Publication
Sylvia, 2015, Issue 51, p75
- ISSN
0231-7796
- Publication type
Article