Katy Dickinson

Bonduel Village Hall

Visiting family in Wisconsin last week, we several times drove though the Village of Bonduel. Bonduel is between Slab City and Cecil in the dairy farmland near Lake Shawano. I noticed the old brick Fire Station, now used as the Bonduel Village Hall, Library, Police, and Department of Public Works. The more I looked, the odder it seemed.

In addition to the three nuclear Fallout Shelter signs on its walls and the huge siren and silver bell on its roof, this peculiar building is as good an example of remuddling as I have seen. "Remuddling" is a term used by Old House Journal for "misguided remodeling-that is, an alteration that is insensitive to the architecture or character of the house." Someone decided that colored patchwork fiberglas panels and a huge zigzag steel fascia were just the thing to fill in the old truck bay of what was once a handsome red brick firehouse. Based on the style, the "update" happened in the early 1960s.

Almost as interesting is the building close by with the simple sign HECK. (Heck is where people go who don't believe in Gosh.)

Fallout Shelter

Bonduel Village Hall

Heck

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 10:07PM Jun 30, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Internal or External Mentoring Program?

28 August 2009 Update
Please read "Sun Mentoring: 1996-2009", the newest Sun Laboratories Technical Report by Katy Dickinson, Tanya Jankot, and Helen Gracon. The abstract and report link are on http://research.sun.com/techrep/2009/abstract-185.html, Report # TR-2009-185

I mostly write about the SEED Engineering-wide world-wide mentoring program I have managed and designed since 2001. However, Sun has always offered other mentoring programs, many of them managed by Helen Gracon. Sun has had a strong culture and tradition of mentoring, both inside and outside of Engineering, for most of its 27 years. Helen and I have collaborated for many years revising and extending the training materials we use jointly. In true Sun distributed management style, Helen reports to me for the purposes of providing training for SEED while independently managing the Mentoring at Sun (or Mentoring@Sun) program offered internally by Sun Learning Services (SLS).

Series:
This is part of a continuing series on mentoring programs, answering some of the questions I am most frequently asked. For the first entry, see my blog Formal vs. Informal Mentoring. I hope this series will be of interest to those who are starting or currently managing mentoring programs, as well as to mentors and mentees.

Background:
SEED was designed in 2000 by a team that included both Engineering and Human Resources (HR) staff. Since 2001, SEED has been sponsored by Chief Technology Officer Greg Papadopoulos and has reported to him. However, since it started in 1992, Mentoring@Sun has moved from SunU (under HR), to the Software product group, to its current home in SLS. Helen has worked with Mentoring@Sun since 1996.

The top business imperatives that led to the creation of SEED in 2000 were:

1. Identify and enrich the experience of those who can reasonably be expected to rise to the top of Sun Engineering's individual contributor or management ranks
2. Engender the value of mentoring systemically across Sun Engineering.
3. Build the Engineering community by making and strengthening connections between its members and with the rest of Sun. (Getting people outside of their professional and organizational silos...).
4. Improve the retention of key Engineering staff.
5. Promote and increase the diversity of Engineering leadership in the areas of demographics, professional area, and geographic location.

Benchmarking compares and measures processes and performance.

Benchmarking:
During our time running mentoring programs, Helen and I have learned about many successful ways of mentoring both inside of Sun and more generally. Helen and I are often contacted with questions by other companies with internal programs, companies offering mentoring as a product for sale, non-profit organizations, and academic administrators or faculty. We compare notes and benchmark not only with each other but with external-to-Sun professionals who run mentoring programs.

"Benchmarking" implies comparison and measurement of one system, process, or product and its performance against another. Benchmarking assumes that there is a standard for excellence or set of best practices against which to compare. In mentoring, each program must be tailored to the organization it serves. SEED has been called an industry best practice program but, as we have found each time we have extended SEED into a new area of service, even the best practices must be optimized for particular circumstances.

In addition to collecting information about other mentoring programs, Helen and I also transfer it to others. An example: In 2006, I set up a Grace Hopper Celebration panel called "Mentoring by the Numbers: Research and results drive mentoring programs that last" featuring Carol Muller (founder of MentorNet) and Mary Jean Harrold (who created a technical infrastructure for women faculty at Georgia Tech) in addition to myself. (If you want to know more: the National Center for Women & Information Technology or NCWIT published Practices papers on MentorNet, SEED, and the Georgia Tech mentoring programs.) Also in 2006, Carol Gorski (former Sun HR Director) and I gave a presentation called "5 Years of Mentoring by the Numbers" at the TechLeaders Workshop associated with the Hopper Conference.

Internal or External Mentoring Program?

I am often contacted by companies researching alternatives after they have had a poor experience with an external mentoring company. In short: internal mentoring programs have a longer and costlier startup time but will probably be less expensive and more effective in the long run. External programs have a lower startup time and cost but are likely to be more expensive long term.

Mentoring programs are either internal (developed and managed inside of a company, university, or other institution), external, or a combination of the two. SEED and Mentoring@Sun are examples of internal corporate mentoring programs. Mentor Resources is an example of an external company of good reputation which sells its mentoring process as a service or product. Some organizations combine the two, starting off with an external program as a boost to developing their internal program.

Key areas to compare when deciding on whether to have an internal or external program are: Cost (Startup and Maintenance) and Ownership and Control. Specifically:

Cost (Startup and Maintenance)

• The cost of any mentoring program must be balanced by its benefits if the program is to continue in use. SEED's priorities are:
  
  1. Increase the value, satisfaction, and retention of program Participants and their Mentors.
  2. Build Sun's Engineering community by making and strengthening connections between its members and with the rest of Sun.
  3. Work to balance the diversity of Participants in terms of demographics, professional area, and geographic location.
  
  Since 2001, the SEED program has a proven track record of strong diversity, very high satisfaction, high regard by management, and high retention. SEED participants as a group earn more promotions and higher performance ratings than Sun overall.
• Internal mentoring programs cost more to start up because the organization has to think through what is wanted, and then develop key program elements: Process, Training and Educational Materials, Management and Web Tools, and Staff. For example: SEED's development took a design team, a marketing team, a metrics team, and a content team working for a year. After the kick off, many of those original team members continued to participate in the program as mentors or team members. One Distinguished Engineer on the design team went on to be a five-time SEED mentor. That is, SEED's design process created both the program itself and the personal and organizational buy-in to make it successful. SEED was set up to be a long-term program.
• Once an internal program is running, there is little ongoing cost other than staffing (and the mentoring pair's time). Internal program costs can be managed to match company requirements, going up in good times (for example, paying for travel for mentoring pairs working at a distance who may not otherwise meet) or turned way down if company circumstances so require.
• External mentoring companies offer expertise, plus existing processes and tools - all needed for success and all taking years to develop. Externally provided mentoring programs are cheaper and easier to start. However, costs may be much higher than anticipated and contracted payments may be substantial (and continue as long as the program is used). Bringing in an outside group may also require significant internal marketing for the program to succeed.
• In costing out any mentoring program, consider what internal support staff are required. Privacy and confidentiality laws and practices will limit information access of an external company so Human Resources support will be required whether the program is internal or external. Also, communications require insider information, so a program manager (possibly plus administrative staff) may have to be assigned whether the program is internal or external.
• Mentoring@Sun started with an externally provided program but Sun's experience was so poor that Helen was hired to turn it into a more effective internal mentoring program. A second external company was later tried, with similar negative results.
• The SEED program was developed by Sun to address Engineering organization needs unmet by Mentoring@Sun. That is, SEED is an internal mentoring and leadership growth program designed to meet the needs of a key professional area, running in parallel with a more general internal program.
• The cost of any mentoring program may be offset by reduced cost in other areas. For example, the SEED program has improved retention (reducing staff replacement costs) and SEED participants as a group earn more promotions and higher performance ratings than Sun overall (measures of improved productivity). Diversity programs may also benefit from being associated with mentoring. For example, Women and non-US staff have for many years taken advantage of the SEED program at a consistently higher rate than their representation in Engineering.

SEED is Sun Engineering's worldwide mentoring and leadership growth program, running in parallel with the more general mentoring program called Mentoring@Sun

Ownership and Control

• Strength in a mentoring culture develops over time. The program may start off small (SEED had just 32 participants in its first term in 2001) but will grow as mentors, mentees, and managers experience good value. SEED now runs eleven overlapping terms annually with up to fifty pairs per term. Over time, mentoring experience can be written into staff development goals and become part of expectations for leadership growth. SEED was started as a new college hire mentoring program supporting just two Sun divisions. It now offers four kinds of terms (new hires, established staff, PreSEED junior staff, and special pilots) and supports Sun Engineering staff working in Software, Systems, Microelectronics, Storage, Services, Sales, Labs, Operations and all other Engineering professional areas worldwide.
• Mentoring programs benefit from recommendations by happy mentees, mentors, or managers. Managers and participants may return as mentors. 25% of those on SEED's potential mentors list were program mentees before they signed up as mentors. Participants develop a feeling of ownership: program completion becomes a matter of pride. I see SEED references on resumes, in blogs, and in promotion justification statements.
• Another benefit of program ownership is flexibility and the opportunity to tailor mentoring practices to the culture and information of the organization. With an internal program, the company keeps and controls its competency and knowledge of the program. The company can integrate an internal program into its staff development goals and it can make internal/private information (such as annual performance review scores) part of the program.

Posted at 05:49PM Jun 30, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

50th Wedding Anniversary at Loon Lake

My husband, John Plocher, and Paul and I traveled to Loon Lake, Wisconsin, last week to celebrate John's parents' 50th wedding anniversary. We spent the week on a variety of boats and enjoying family in the 75-year-old cottage. There were 9 grandchildren (ages 17 to 3: Micah, Paul, Nathaniel, Gabriel, Leah, Malachai, Zacharias, Isaiah, and Mashayla) who chased caterpillars and crawdads, went fishing with Grandpa, played cards and boardgames and went swimming as often as possible. We missed my daughter Jessica who has an internship this summer in Washington, D.C. The grownups cooked and cleaned, fixed up the cottage, and drove the boats. John and I paddled the canoe from Loon Lake, through a beaver dam, across Washington Lake, to Shawano Lake and back.

This year on Osprey Island in the middle of Loon Lake were one nesting pair of Loons, two pair of Ospreys, and one pair of Bald Eagles plus a blue heron, mallard ducks, and uncountable songbirds. The loons sang to us all night.

Presenting the Silver Tray

Proud Mom, 3 Sons

50th Anniversary Cake

White water lily

Naomi and grandkids in the lake

Loon Lake Sunset

John playing

Micah with John's hat

Paul tubing behind the speedboat

Grandkids in a row

Bald Eagle with 2 babies in nest

Loon Lake Cottage

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 05:18PM Jun 29, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  |  Comments[1]

Heart Walk Talk

This is Sun's 3rd year as a Silicon Valley Heart Walk sponsor. The American Heart Association is the largest voluntary health organization working to prevent, treat and defeat heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. The Heart Walk is a volunteer activity to promote health and raise funds to support heart research and education.

We kicked off our 2009 Heart Walk preparation today with a lunchtime talk at Sun Labs called "Secrets to a Long and Healthy Life" by the remarkable Neal Scott, MD, PhD. (Dr. Scott's presentation is linked here with his permission. Note that it is 123 pages long, in PDF format.) About Dr. Scott:

Dr. Neal Scott received his Bachelor of Science from Stanford University, his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his Ph.D. degree from MIT. He completed an Internal Medicine residency and a research fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. Following a Cardiology fellowship at Stanford University and an advanced fellowship in Coronary Intervention at Emory University, he joined the academic faculty at Emory University. There, Dr. Scott taught and worked in the cardiac catheterization laboratory, developed various therapeutic catheters and performed basic and clinical research. In addition, he started a medical device company that was acquired by Medtronic, Inc. Dr. Scott has over 100 publications and over 20 patents issued or pending.

CTO Greg Papadopoulos is again Sun's executive sponsor the Silicon Valley Heart Walk. About the Heart Walk:

Date: Sunday, Sept 13th, 2009
Where: De Anza College, Cupertino, California
Registration: 7:30 am - 8:30 am
Walk: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Parking: FREE for the Heart Walk - in the Flint Center Parking structure

You can see photos from last year's Heart Walk on my 21 September 2008 blog entry. Sheri Kaneshiro is working with me managing Sun's 2009 Heart Walk participation.

Bill Penrod introducing Dr. Scott

Dr. Neal Scott's Talk

Dr. Scott and Heart Walkers

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 06:09PM Jun 16, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Mentoring Reminders

We are two and a half weeks into the mentor matching cycle for the SEED and PreSEED mentoring terms. Both terms formally started today and will run for the next six months. 58% of the 80 participants (mentees and mentees-to-be) are already matched with their new mentors. This is the time of each cycle when the mentees start to get frustrated waiting for their new mentors.

For me, there is a balance between nudging potential mentors (emails with subjects like "Last Chance" and "Any news?" and "Please Reply!") or deciding to give up and go to the next lower priority name on the participant's Mentor Wish List. I have to be careful about going on: twice already in the last two weeks a mentor contacted me long after their deadline and asked to work with the mentee.

I just sent out nine more emails either reminding potential mentors to get back to me or asking a new potential mentor to review the resume and other information of a participant who has expressed interest in learning from them. In a normal term, 80% of the participants will be matched with one of their top four mentor choices. However, that does mean that 20% will not. Nobody wants to be in that second category.

This term, 387 unique mentors were requested on Wish Lists. There were ten mentors who had more than one participant who asked for them at #1 priority. There were 39 mentors who had five or more participants ask for them. The most potential mentors I have contacted for one participant so far this term is six. However, that potential mentor seems to be seriously interested in the match. Another participant about whom I have only contacted three potential mentors is nonetheless on #10 out of his ten name Mentor Wish List. If #10 is not a good fit, I will go back to the participant for more names.

The participant (potential mentee) is not kept informed of each step in the match process. They do not know which potential mentor from the Wish List is contacted. Potential mentors need to have space and time to consider the possibilities of a mentoring partnership without risk of offending the potential mentee or interfering with future communications with them or their manager.

Everyone does gets matched eventually...

Posted at 11:06PM Jun 15, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

57th Wedding Anniversary

Last Friday was my parents' 57th wedding anniversary. They were married in June 1952 in Knoxville, Tennesee. My father grew up in Hickory Township, Pennsylvania. He met my mother at a Knoxville dance while he was working at the nuclear center at Oak Ridge.

My younger brother Pete Dickinson was in the Bay Area this week to visit clients, so we had a family celebration. Yesterday's highlight was a walk through the amazing Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University where we visited the world-class Rodin Collection. Cantor has a huge collection of art by Auguste Rodin:

"This exhibition presents the Center's entire Rodin collection, 200 works in all. The Cantor Arts Center's collection of Rodin bronzes is the largest in the world outside Paris, second only to the Musee Rodin. The majority of the collection remains on the ground floor, occupying three galleries. Approximately 170 works by Rodin are on view inside the Center, mostly cast bronze, but also works in wax, plaster, and terra cotta. Twenty bronzes, including The Gates of Hell, on which Rodin worked for two decades to complete, are outside in the Sculpture Garden. The Burghers of Calais are nearby on campus. The Rodin Sculpture Garden is open all hours, with lighting for nighttime viewing. Admission is free."

We also got to see a Deborah Butterfield bronze cast driftwood horse in Cantor's front hall. You may have seen another member of sculptor Butterfield's herd at SFO, the San Francisco airport. Another favorite sculpture at Cantor is "Stone River" by Andy Goldsworthy.

Wade and Eleanor in 1952

Deborah Butterfield's horse

Katy, Pete, Eleanor, Wade

Iris by Rodin

three Rodin busts

Caryatid by Rodin

Goldsworthy's "Stone River"

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 01:03PM Jun 15, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |  Comments[2]

HO Scale Train Track

My husband John Plocher loves trains of all sizes, from WP 668, our 1916 historic backyard caboose, to the HO-scale models at the Silicon Valley Lines (SVL) club where you can find him most Friday nights. John has twice been President of SVL and is now Board Secretary. On the live Operations nights at SVL (last Friday of each month), John often serves as Dispatcher. Recently, John has been hand laying a section of track near the main yard at Nowheres on the SVL layout.

The SVL club is of particular interest because of the high degree of its computerization. It is often on tours of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA). The last two years, SVL has also been one of the invitation-only layouts toured by Bayrails. SVL operates trains using digital command control (DCC), which allows engineers to control locomotives independently on the same track.

The club is located near Virginia and South Third in San Jose, California, in the basement of a historic brick building occupied by Golden State Builders. Most of the basement is rented out for storage and is sectioned off with metal and plastic fencing, floor to ceiling. Look for the SVL signs...

Virginia & S Third, San Jose

The Ramp to SVL

SVL sign

SVL Nowheres yard

John's work in progress

SVL layout detail

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 09:39PM Jun 13, 2009 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  | 

Sick Cockatiel

Our 15-year-old Cockatiel "Princess Birdie" has been very ill recently. She had a bacterial and fungal infection and spent several days in the For the Birds hospital:

For the Birds
Fern Van Sant DVM
1136 South De Anza Blvd., Suite B
San Jose, California 95129
(408) 255-1739

Our family learned how to give medicine and nursing to a creature the size of my hand. She also has new perches for her cages (one in the kitchen and the other in my office) and new food. Birdie is now feeling much better.

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 04:01PM Jun 13, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  | 

Paul is a Senior

My 16-year-old son Paul has had a rough year. Our family's continuing medical adventure began when Paul started having chronic and severe headaches in January. We have spent the last six months with Pediatricians, Neurologists, Neurosurgeons, Pain Specialists, Psychologists and Psychiatrists, Occupational and Physical Therapists, and Nurse practitioners. Recently, Paul has benefited from Chiropractic care in addition to the medicines provided by the Pain Management Clinic at Packard Children's Hospital.

Yesterday was Paul's last day at the Packard Hospital School. He is now a Senior in High School and is looking forward to going back to Paly in September. The Hospital School has a good art, theater, and science program for its patient students. Here is Paul with some of his recent art:

punched out sun face masks

elements drawing

wire and bead fish

Some of Paul's art from earlier this year:

three ceramic mugs

ceramic leaf tray

carved head

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 06:16PM Jun 12, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  | 

Ave atque vale (hail and farewell)

On our nightly walks in the winter of the year, John and I noticed many small business quietly closing where we live in Willow Glen. Sadly, we have lost restaurants, a wine shop, a hair cutter, a sports clothes shop, and a furniture store.

However, recently that downward trend has thankfully reversed and we are seeing new and transformed retail and service startups repopulating the area. For example:

• Willow Glen Books said they were closing but then new life was announced by the new owner
• Conte's Aaron Doors was transformed from a garage door shop to a consignment shop which also sells garage doors. I was told that people who buy garage doors are often looking for a place to sell the stuff in their garage. Makes sense.
• I have seen a sign on the street for Get Fit which now offers personal training and fitness mornings and evenings in a local park and in the basement of St. Francis Episcopal Church.

It is good to see local business looking up after so many dreary months.

Posted at 05:48PM Jun 12, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

37 Mentoring Pairs Matched for SEED and PreSEED

About two weeks ago, I started the mentor matching cycle for Sun's Global Sales and Service (GSS) SEED term and a PreSEED mentoring term. As of now, 37 out of 80 participants have been matched with mentors (46%). There were quite a few potential mentors who delayed replies until they got home from last week's JavaOne conference. Both terms will run 15 June - 15 December 2009.

PreSEED participants are limited to "principal level" mentors (just below executive level). The 26 new PreSEED mentors have titles like Senior Staff Engineer, Manager, and Senior Program Manager. The 11 SEED mentors matched so far have titles like Senior Director, Vice President, and Distinguished Engineer.

Most of the mentees in both terms are based outside of the USA. The mentor and mentee often work at great distances from each other. So far, in addition to pairs who are both in the USA, we have pairs working from:

1. Bangalore, India and Tokyo, Japan
2. Brush Prairie WA, USA and Sale, UK
3. Burlington, MA USA and Velizy, France
4. Camberley UK and Ratingen, Germany
5. Hamburg, Germany and McLean VA, USA
6. Hong Kong and Chengdu, China
7. Kirchheim-heimstetten, Germany and Zaventem, Belgium
8. London and Camberley UK
9. Menlo Park CA, USA and Bangalore, India
10. Menlo Park CA, USA and Beijing, China
11. Menlo Park CA, USA and Madrid, Spain
12. Montbonnot Saint Martin, France and Padova, Italy
13. Prague, Czech Republic and Madrid, Spain
14. Prague and Prague, Czech Republic
15. Santa Clara CA, USA and Budapest, Hungary
16. Santa Clara CA, USA and Gothenberg, Sweden
17. Santa Clara CA, USA and Rome, Italy
18. Somerset NJ, USA and Oslo, Norway

Quarterly SEED satisfaction reports over many years have shown no statistical difference between working locally and at a distance. The average program satisfaction reported tops 90%.

Posted at 02:31PM Jun 10, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

25 Mentoring Pairs Matched for SEED and PreSEED

Mentor Matching Status
My first 22 email invitations for potential mentors in the Global Sales and Service (GSS) SEED term went out 27 May. The PreSEED emails went out the next day. In the first week after starting these mentor matching cycles, 22 of the 80 participants were matched (28%). This is low for a usual term but with the Sun-Oracle transition uncertainties plus JavaOne this week, it is to be expected. Three more have been matched today already, so responses are picking up.

Both terms will run 15 June - 15 December 2009. The majority of both terms' participants work outside of the USA. Only 7 of the mentor-mentee pairs matched so far are local to each other. Fortunately, quarterly SEED satisfaction reports show no statistical difference between working locally and at a distance. To see how the SEED mentor matching system works, read "SEED: Sun engineering enrichment & development" Research Disclosure Database Number 482013, defensive publication in Research Disclosure, Published in June 2004, Electronic Publication Date : 17 May 2004 (5 pages, PDF format)

Locations

21 GSS SEED Mentee Locations
	Belgium   1,   5%
	France    1,   5%
	Germany   1,   5%
	Hungary   1,   5%
	Italy     1,   5%
	Japan     2,   10%
	Norway    1,   5%
	Slovakia  1,   5%
	Spain     1,   5%
	Sweden    3,   14%
	Switzerland    1,   5%
	United Kingdom 3,   14%
	USA       4,   19%

7 GSS Mentor Locations (so far)
	Germany   1
	India     1
	UK        1
	USA       4


58 PreSEED Mentee Locations:
	9 China,    16%
	2 Czech Rep, 3%
	1 Germany,   2%
	5 India,     9%
	1 Ireland,   2%
	5 Italy,     9%
	2 Japan,     3%
	1 Russia,    2%
	2 Spain,     3%
	1 United Arab Emirates (Dubai), 2%
	2 UK,        3%
	27 USA,     47%

17 PreSEED Mentor Locations (so far)
	Czech Rep   2
	France      1
	UK          1
	USA        13

Posted at 11:54AM Jun 05, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  |  Comments[1]

Interesting Photos

Interesting photos I have taken recently that do not fit well into any other blog post:

Butterfly Iris

Ravens Kissing

T Rex and Flamingo at Google

Strawberry Tree bark

Alstromeira and Prickly Pear

Wood Shavings

Matilija Poppy

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 06:16PM Jun 04, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Flower Flour Bakery & Flower Shop

I am working from home this week, so I was able to have lunch with my husband John at Flower Flour, our local bakery and flower shop. As usual, the food was very good and eating among the flowers was a delight. The few shops at our end of Willow Glen are basic (barber, dry cleaner, taqueria, liquor store...) with the one creative flourish that is Flower Flour.

Flour Flower is where John goes when he wants to buy me a special bouquet. Sometimes we walk there for Saturday breakfast or afternoon tea. Talking with Mimi (about gardening or baking) and Ed is part of the enjoyment.

Some Flour Flower photos from Valentine's Day:

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 02:47PM Jun 04, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Beset by a Mockingbird

We live on the Guadalupe River in San Jose, CA where there are many birds and many kinds of birds. This spring, we are beset by a particularly noisy Mockingbird who has started singing outside of our windows for much of the night. From the descriptions I have read, this is probably a male bird seeking a mate. I hope he finds happiness soon because I am tired of being woken up by his lovelorn songs.

For many years, I have seen mockingbirds chasing squirrels and other birds but this is the first time our garden has hosted a persistent night singer. According to Wikipedia

"The Northern Mockingbird, in addition to being a good mimic, is also one of the loudest and most constantly vocal of birds. It often sings through the night, especially unmated males, or when the moon is full. It sings year-round except sometimes for the late-summer molting season. Individual males have repertoires of 50 to 200 songs; females sing as well, but more quietly and less often than males. Mockingbirds usually sing the loudest in the twilight of the early morning when the sun is on the horizon."

There were so many different songs, I wasn't sure it was just one bird singing. Then I read the following from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds web page: "If you’ve been hearing an endless string of 10 or 15 different birds singing outside your house, you might have a Northern Mockingbird in your yard." I have enjoyed reading up on our garden visitor, happy to have a chance to check out the new and ambitious Encyclopedia of Life which seeks to "organize and make available via the Internet virtually all information about life present on Earth."

On my walk last night, I saw a mockingbird on a telephone wire over our street, loudly singing many different birds' songs in quick succession. True to his latin name Mimus polyglottos, the many-tongued mimic sang everyone's song as his own.

Posted at 12:04PM Jun 04, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  |  Comments[1]