One of my neighbors keeps a duck in his yard that I hear when taking a walk. This rooftop crow was making a particular call nearby in alteration with the duck (barely audible in this video). I’ve not heard these short frequent caws from a crow before, so it definitely seems like he’s intentionally imitating the duck.

  • Zannsolo@lemmy.world
    2·
    22 days ago

    Pretty normal crow noises, I have a bunch near my house and I hear calls like that all the time. My 1 1/2 yo kid thinks all birds say caw caw.

    • Mechanismatic@lemmy.mlOPMEnglish
      3·
      22 days ago

      Most of the calls in my neighborhood tend to be shorter bursts—territorial or assembly calls. The greater frequency calls tend to be reserved for when a hawk or owl is around and needs to be mobbed once backup arrives. The fact that the similar sounding duck quacking is interspersed seems to indicate imitation to me.