February 12, 2005
Mockingbird sings ringtones
The Houston Chronicle has a wonderful article on the courtship practices of our feathered friends and we discover that some breeds really know how to strut their stuff. Males dance, posture, bluff and sings note from ringtones or doorbells - all part of an elaborate routine to convince females of male prowess.
"[...] But the courtship performance of most male birds, however, is with song. And no bird illustrates courtship song better than the mockingbird, which sings his heart out for females.
Combining tunes from other birds along with the disparate notes from doorbells and cell phones, the mockingbird can render up to 200 unique harmonies. It can also mimic the songs of 36 different songbirds.
In fact, a female mockingbird chooses her mate based on his song. She is lured to the male that can sing the greatest number of harmonies and mimic the widest variety of other bird songs."
This reminds of a widely circulated story in 2001 about a Danish man who claimed the sparrows in his garden were chirping the Nokia classic tone. And along the same lines, one may also purchase a CD to teach birds to sing mobile phone ringtones.
More on bird ringtones:
-- Cell Phones Heed Call of the Wild - Cell-phone users in the US can set their ringers to the song of the pied butcherbird, cry of the screaming piha or tremolo of a loon, among other critters,
-- Birdsong ringtones - According to Neil Wyatt, chief executive of the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country, which co-ordinates the symphony, the interest in birdsong is growing and apparently, bird ringtones are also popular; "the yellowhammer, wood warbler and lapwing are among many that can be downloaded".
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