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To Nail a Mockingbird

They say that coyotes can fool you into thinking there are a half a dozen yipping away, when in fact it's only a couple. I've been experiencing that with a "flock" of birds in the riparian areas around Glenwood NM. 

It's so hard to write about the pleasure of hearing birds in the morning. It always sounds corny or sappy. But over the years, I notice that this pleasure is growing.

I couldn't take it anymore. I just had to find out who was making all the noise in my camping area. Actually most of it was quite musical. Maybe it was just one bird who was vocally gifted. At long last I photographed the culprit.



I really should learn how to record sound on my camera and present it on the blog. This fellow could make at least a half dozen distinct sounds; he would switch from one hit-tune to the next. It was hard to keep track of them all.

He is a medium-sized, slender bird with a grey back, white breast, and showy white bands on the wings, which are most noticeable when flying.


Besides his amazing range of vocalizations, he was impressive in his goofy fluttering from his perch on a tree. The white bands were most visible.






But there can be only one explanation for his showy and ludicrous crooning and athleticisms; there are certain forms of male behavior that are universal:


I'm afraid the poor lad is smitten with the Grand Passion. So are we agreed that he is a mockingbird?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm no bird expert, but it sounds like a mockingbird to me. The only birds that "sing" for me in the morning are the Canadian geese, and they do it before the sun rises right outside my RV. Thankfully, they're noisy only for a brief time while waking up the clan.
heyduke50 said…
yep it is Mimus polyglottos... interesting latin name describing its many voices...
bayrider said…
When I lived in San Francisco atop Nob Hill some sort of night birds would do perfect imitations of those multi tone car alarms, going through 6 or 10 versions one immediately after the other. Now I live in a rural area and hear those same birds occasionally, it seems they naturally have those car alarms in their vocabulary because they are still doing them.
Bayrider, I wouldn't put it past those mimus polyglottus types to imitate a car alarm, police siren, or what have you!

Ted, I'll keep the mimus polyglottus and you can keep the geese!
Barb said…
Wow, those are great photos! I didn't know mockingbirds were so pretty. :)
I had a mockingbird carrying on for a month in the spring... he was even going in the middle of the night. I read up on them, and you're right... he was most likely a single male. I wanted to take pictures, but didn't, so thanks for sharing yours. I guess he found a mate, because it's been sadly quiet since then.