Ortolan Buntings Emberiza hortulana mimicking other species and other dialects of own species

Abstract

We present new acoustically well-documented observations of Ortolan Bunting males from Norway, singing atypical songs with syllables copied from other species and from non-neighbouring, distant populations of own species. The first case concerns a male singing strophes containing syllables of Yellowhammer and Ortolan Bunting, both most probably copied in central Europe. These songs often had broken syntax. The second case concerns a male that sang both typical strophes and strophes that had the initial part copied from a local dialect of Redwing, but with a typical syntax for the species. That male mated successfully. Causes and consequences of vocal mimicry in the species are discussed.