Community-science sourced evidence of vocal mimicry in Perisoreus jays

Avian vocal mimicry is a well-documented behavior in passerines. However, for many species, detailed data on the diversity of mimicry behavior remains scarce. Additionally, it is unclear whether closely related species exhibit similar mimicry behaviors. One group of mimics is the Perisoreus jays: the Canada Jay (P. canadensis), Siberian Jay (P. infaustus), and Sichuan Jay (P. internigrans). To characterize mimicry behavior in this genus, we conducted a systematic analysis of over 450,000 community-sourced observations of Perisoreus jays from eBird, Macaulay Library, iNaturalist, and Xeno-Canto. We found a total of 244 observations of mimicry for species in this genus and identified 40 model species mimicked by the Canada Jay (31 of which were not documented previously), 20 model species mimicked by the Siberian Jay (16 of which were not documented previously), and no model species mimicked by the Sichuan Jay (although two were documented previously), alongside 121 recordings of mimicry events. Our findings suggest that vocal mimicry in Perisoreus jays is more extensive and diverse than previously documented. This study highlights the value of community science data in documenting rare or understudied behaviors and calls for further research on the significance of vocal mimicry, particularly among closely related species.