Do Red-backed Shrikes imitate other Birds with their Calls? (1 Viewer)

[Michael Billerbeck]

Hi Birders,

I am currently taking the time to sight my video material, and I started to create a short video of the calls of the male Red-backed Shrike which I filmed end of May 2019 at a nature reserve in the so-called Lippetal, North-Rine Westfalia, Germany.
He was calling from the bush, and I noticed a little bit further from the middle of the video (the part where the Red-backed Shrike is close) that the Red-backed Shrike seems to imitate tit calls:

Would you agree here, and do Red-backed Shrikes indeed imitate other Birds with their Calls?

Thank you.

 

[Richard Prior]

Hi Michael,
They certainly do imitate other bird calls very well, as I found to my embarrassment a couple of years ago up in the mountains here when I was convinced I could hear Rock Partridge “ it must be near the Shrike” I recall saying to my wife before realising it was the Shrike all along.
In your video I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s imitating a specific species, the song is so varied and jumbled it’s not always easy to interpret.

 

[Michael Billerbeck]

Wow, interesting background experience you had there, @Richard Prior
I understand that a Rock Partridge would have been a great sight though,
and I see that we never stop learning about birds. Thank you.

 

[Richard Prior]

Wow, interesting background experience you had there, @Richard Prior
I understand that a Rock Partridge would have been a great sight though,
and I see that we never stop learning about birds. Thank you.

You’re dead right, I’ve now been birding for 60 years and still discovering (but please don’t mention how a Rock Partridge would be a great sight, it’s a bit of a bogey bird for me to say the least!).

 

[KenM]

You’re dead right, I’ve now been birding for 60 years and still discovering.

Is that all Richard….🤣

 

[Richard Prior]

Is that all Richard….🤣

Yer cheeky young(?) whippersnapper.

 

[Xenospiza]

Yes, I would say it is imitating a tit there.
In 2019 I recorded one at my local patch in Kreis Recklinghausen with a good Chaffinch imitation:
https://cdnmedia3.biolovision.net/www.ornitho.de/2019-07/940-41019295-8028.mp3

 

[KenM]

Yer cheeky young(?) whippersnapper.

…….”younger than springtime am I” 😉

 

[Michael Billerbeck]

You’re dead right, I’ve now been birding for 60 years and still discovering (but please don’t mention how a Rock Partridge would be a great sight, it’s a bit of a bogey bird for me to say the least!).

Wow, that's many years of experience.
Well, for me it would be because I have never seen one myself.

Anyways, I figured that from 0:26 mins to 0:35 mins he indeed imitates the agitated call of a blue tit like in this video: