An article by Dr. Eben Goodale, Prof. Sarath Kotagama and yours truly is coming up in the July issue of the Natural History magazine of the American Museum of Natural History, US.
It is on the ‘multilingual’ Greater Racket-tailed Drongo aka. Sri Lanka Crested Drongo—the playmaker of the mixed-species bird flocks in the Sinharaja Rain forest in Sri Lanka. And the copy of the magazine with our article is expected to hit the newsstands from 1 July. So this is an early reminder to reserve your copy!
If you like to subscribe this fantastic magazine, there is a special introductory subscription offer, which is just $22 for people in the USAand $32 for people outside the USA. This includes one year of Natural History (10 issues) and one-time free general admission pass to the American Museum of Natural History among other benefits.
Isn’t that darn good value?
So, click here to subscribe for it now!
9 comments:
I'm aware that the Drongo is a pretty good mimic and can reproduce calls of other birds (correct??), but "multilingual"??? Should be a good article. Hope you reproduce it!!
Cheers!
Well congratulations on this article and I look forward to reading it.
Hi Java,
Correct.
'Multilingual' epithet comes from its ability mimic the calls of other birds in the exact context where the particular birds that are being mimicked use that call(s). It is capable of varying its mimicry to match changing contexts to convey specific information to other flock associates.
If you visit the 'related post'; Sinharaja with Ed $ CJ, I have linked to some audio clips by Eben's study to show how drongos incorporate ground predator-specific alarm calls of 4 flock-associated birds in its own alarm vocalizations. Enjoy it!
Hi Chrisss,
Thanks! Please do and I am sure you will enjoy it!
Thanks Amila - I did enjoy it. Fantastic!
No worries Java,
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Ocean,
Thank you very much! It is magazine on science and nature aimed at the general public and is quite a good one. Be sure to check the first of the related links when you are back.
Congrats on the article!
Thanks Mel!
Hey I must have missed this post somehow, can't remember reading it. Anyhow, congrats on the article. and I believe the best imitation of the drongo is that of the cat's 'meow'. that's hilarious!
I've observed that they usually do that when they see a cat hiding among the bushes, and this seem to annoy the cat, who comes back into the house complaining to himself.
Thanks Sasani!
Yep, the white-bellied Drongos can really drive cats mad! That sort of mobbing, leaves the cats with no comeback lines!
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