Northern Mockingbird

One of the most frequent visitors to our yard, behind the sparrows, finches and doves, are the Northern Mockingbirds.


As the name rather bluntly suggests, they are known for their songs that mimic and incorporate the songs of other birds - and pretty much any other sounds they regularly hear.  But my experience of them, aurally speaking, has largely been their more utilitarian and shrill "keck" calls they make when mobbing a hawk.  I think I first really noticed them during a barbecue when their insistent calling alerted me to a Cooper's Hawk in the jacaranda tree across the street that was tearing to shreds and eating a dove.  The mockingbirds were very upset with the hawk and kept swooping down at him, loudly voicing their displeasure.


They are fun to watch in their own right.  They do these weird spread-wing dances, showing off the bright white stripes on top and bottom.  They'll do it even when there are no other mockingbirds around and I have no idea what it means.  It doesn't appear to be a threat display.  I watched one do an elaborate dance on top of a telephone pole, flying up in graceful arcs and landing again, for about an hour with nary another bird in sight.

You may have heard it's a sin to kill one.

Northern Mockingbirds, taken on May 13th and 14th with the Nikon in my yard.

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