Gerald borgia has spent 20 years spying on the spectacular wooing techniques of male bowerbirds. He has watched them construct intricate bowers, and adorn these with decorations gathered from the forest. He has marvelled at their flawless vocal impressions of laughing kookaburras and honeyeaters, cats' meows and car engines. But even Borgia was left slack-jawed by what he caught on tape during one field trip to the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea. Poring over hundreds of hours of footage back in his lab at the University of Maryland in College Park, Borgia came across a male streaked bowerbird belting out an extraordinary soundscape. It started with dogs barking and people chatting as they traipsed through the forest slashing at foliage, and continued with the sounds of machete strikes and a falling tree, complete with the rustle and shake of leaves and the great crash of it hitting the ground. "I played it back again and again because I couldn't believe it," says Borgia. "This bird was mimicking an entire audio scene with the most astonishing accuracy. I was amazed... shocked. It's by far the most impressive piece of vocal mimicry I've ever heard."
展开▼
