May 2020

Photo: Northern Mockingbird, Laura Sprinkle/Great Backyard Bird Count

While working in my garden the other day, I simply had to stop and listen to the chorus of birdsong coming from a nearby tree. In rapid succession, I heard the “peter, peter, peter” of a Tufted Titmouse, a Northern Cardinal’s “cheerily, cheer-up,” the “teakettle, teakettle” song of a Carolina Wren, and assorted chip notes that I couldn’t place – followed by what was unmistakably the ring of a cell phone. A Northern Mockingbird that has taken up residence in one of our trees was treating me to its repertoire of borrowed songs. It was as if an entire symphony was being played by a single instrument.  

As the pace of life slows down, I’m not only paying more attention to the mockingbirds’ songs. I was pleased to see a pair of them contest with a swarm of Common Grackles to visit our suet feeder. I don’t think I had noticed mockingbirds coming to the suet feeder before. And has that Red Fox I saw patrolling our yard the last two mornings been here all spring? Recently, I heard a Barred Owl’s “who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?” in a nearby yard. Did it just arrive in the neighborhood, or have I simply not been at home to listen to it?  

Certainly, the Stay-At-Home order in effect for Virginia has caused disruptions to most of us, ranging from inconvenience to serious economic hardship. But there can be benefits from the restrictions, ranging from finally finding the time to upgrade the garden to simply relaxing and paying more attention to the nature that surrounds us. In the last two weeks the dominant color of the trees has turned from brown to green, bees have begun visiting the spring flowers and birds everywhere are carrying nesting material. So, if you’re bored, going stir-crazy in the house or simply need some “alone time,” go outside, take a slow walk around the block and really pay attention to what you see and hear. There’s lots going on right now; all you have to do is take the time to appreciate it.   

Bird of the Month: Northern Mockingbird

Photo: Northern Mockingbird, Anthony Goldman/Audubon Photography Awards

By Elise Brosnan

A few years ago, while I was at the dentist’s, I looked out the window and saw a welcome distraction: a Northern Mockingbird landed on a telephone pole, jumped a few feet in the air, and then gracefully fluttered back down. It repeated this behavior for several minutes.

What was this bird doing? If I had seen the whole story, I might have figured it out: Bald Eagles engage in aerial combat, Mallards tussle on the ground, and Northern Mockingbirds have dance battles. In what an academic paper delightfully terms “hostile dancing,” mockingbirds “dance” to proclaim the boundaries of their territory and intimidate would-be usurpers. 

Northern Mockingbird, Steven Kersting/Flickr CC

Of course, mockingbirds’ dancing is not nearly as renowned as their singing. Northern Mockingbirds famously copy bird calls and other environmental sounds to create long and complicated songs of their own. Readers may be familiar with the old American lullaby “Hush Little Baby,” where a child is promised a singing mockingbird if he or she behaves. This is not an empty promise or artistic license: because of their ability to learn new songs, mockingbirds were often kept as pets throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The birds were routinely poached from the wild, and populations suffered as a result. Mockingbirds rebounded after the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which outlawed the capture and sale of native migratory birds. 

Mockingbirds were a favorite pet of Thomas Jefferson, who owned many of them throughout his life. He kept at least four during his time as president, making Northern Mockingbirds the first birds to live inside the White House.

Sources:
https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/mockingbirds

https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v062n06/p0464-p0468.pdf