Katy Dickinson

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]