An Australian magpie has been caught on camera mimicking the sound of emergency vehicle sirens during the bushfire crisis affecting large parts of the country. Almost 400 homes have been confirmed as destroyed in New South Wales alone in the past week, with thousands of people told to evacuate coastal communities. The Australian magpie, voted bird of the year by Guardian Australia readers in 2017, is well known for mimicking the sounds it hears most frequently, such as dogs and car alarms.

Australian bushfires: nine dead and hundreds of properties destroyed