Why do parrots get all the credit? Even though they can repeat anything, they still sound like parrots. But there’s another type of bird that puts Polly squawking about her cracker to shame.

Ravens can imitate a number of sounds, and they’re extremely accurate. Their voices can mimic the deep, resonant tone of a man, or a higher-pitched tone of a woman. Their voices can sound so insanely human that it’s hard to believe someone isn’t playing a trick on you.

Listen for yourself… (click play on the videos below)

Mischief the raven would like to tell you hello.

And Julian wants to know what’s up.

Julian also wants to know who’s a good bird, but no one ever tells him.

Ravens also have regional accents, like the famous Terry.

And some of them speak other languages.

Raymond is a wild bird that comes to visit his friend Merlyn and like to make weird noises, but … wait. Was that..? Was he imitating Merlyn’s laugh?

Generally this type of speech only happens with ravens that are trained and raised and captivity. But there are other wild ravens like Raymond who are freaking people out on a daily basis.

They quickly learn the sounds of their environment and use them to get what they want. For example, they’ve been known to mimic wolf and fox calls to lead them to a carcass that they’re interested in eating but aren’t capable of opening.

Bird-brain doesn’t sound like much of an insult anymore, does it? (Source)