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Two sympatric species of passerine birds imitate the same raptor calls in alarm contexts

While some avian mimics appear to select sounds randomly, other species preferentially imitate sounds such as predator calls that are associated with danger. Previous work has shown that the Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) incorporates predator calls and heterospecific alarm calls into its own species-typical alarm vocalizations. Here, we show that another passerine species, the Sri Lanka Magpie (Urocissa ornata), which inhabits the same Sri Lankan rainforest, imitates three of the same predator calls that drongos do. For two of these call types, there is evidence that magpies also use them in alarm contexts. Our results support the hypothesis that imitated predator calls can serve as signals of alarm to multiple species.

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We thank Deepal Warakagoda and Uditha Hettige for bringing the call of the Mountain Hawk Eagle to our attention and discussing their field observations. We are also grateful to Ashoka Jayarathna for discussion of his observations, and Jack Hailman, I. L. Jones, the late Amith Munidradasa, Jeffrey Podos and two anonymous reviewers for improvement of the manuscript. The Sri Lanka Forest Department provided permission to work inside the Sinharaja World Heritage Reserve. Financial support for CPR’s overall study of Sri Lanka Magpie was generously donated by the Ricoh Co., Ltd through the Wild Bird Society of Japan and the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka. Support for equipment and write-up for the project was provided by the National Science Foundation (USA) (DDIG grant and IRFP grant 0601909) to EG.

1. Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, Colombo, 3, Sri Lanka

   Chaminda P. Ratnayake, Eben Goodale & Sarath W. Kotagama

1. Chaminda P. Ratnayake
2. Eben Goodale
3. Sarath W. Kotagama

Correspondence to Eben Goodale.

Ratnayake, C.P., Goodale, E. & Kotagama, S.W. Two sympatric species of passerine birds imitate the same raptor calls in alarm contexts. Naturwissenschaften 97, 103–108 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0617-7

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• Received: 19 August 2009

• Revised: 06 October 2009

• Accepted: 09 October 2009

• Published: 25 November 2009

• Issue Date: January 2010

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0617-7

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