I will give you two guesses what this blog is about. I will even make it multiple choice for you!! It is either about me horribly singing along with an oldie, or about a Mockingbird. Surely you have it guessed right!
We seem to have a resident Northern Mockingbird here! I was letting the dog out and could hear this LOUD singing bird. I had never heard it before. So I listened, and spotted it up on our light pole. He sat there just as proud as he could and sang his heart out. So in true Mellyn fashion, I run for my cameras. I knew I would need the zoom lens, switched it out, and he was still there. I never run into that kind of luck as usually, my wildlife subjects hightail it as they hear me thundering through the house towards my camera.
I took a few pictures of him and realized, what made this bird so brilliant, was not his looks. It was his song! So I ran in and grabbed my other camera, that has video, so I could record him. I got a little bit while he was up on the pole. He then displayed the most beautiful wings as he flew over to the nearest tree. I pursued him, kind of like Jeff Corwin would have, and recorded the tree, since I couldn't see him. He then decided he needed a new spot. I once again bellycrawled over to that pole he perched upon. OK, so I actually walked there, but it was for the good of the story.
I recorded a tad more before he decided to head towards the creek. All that singing must have made him thirsty. I decided that was pretty cool, and needed to confirm what kind of bird this was anyhow. I head in, telling my friend Mop all about this wonderful bird and what it was. I started showing her the first pics I had snapped. That's when through the open window, I could hear he was back!
I grabbed the Rebel again and out the door I went. This time taking over 50 pictures... hey, it was on continuous shot, I wanted a picture of his beautiful wings. As he sings, he will sometimes leap 3-4 feet into the air and land back down where he was. What a showoff! I nailed it, I got a picture of his wings! I decided I was going to try to get closer to him so I could get a bigger shot of him. My zoom lens is good, but I always want more.
After those 57 shots, I went inside, showed off my trophy photos and changed my desktop background. I decided to try to load the videos of the sound to the internet to share as well. I am not sure why this bird got so much attention from me. I hope he has the same luck with his fellow Mockingbird ladies. I don't think you could have too many in your backyard. I did read however, they loves berries. Elvis (yes I named him), I will make you a deal, you eat all the mulberries you want, don't touch my blackberries, and you can raise a family here with us!
You can imagine my surprise and excitement, he was back this morning on top of the pole greeting me! They truly live up to their name, they do mock other birds and sounds. Apparently the more sounds he knows, the more attractive it makes them to the females. This morning, I could recognize a few sounds he made! One being the song of a robin, the sounds of a small frog croaking, and this last one cracks me up. I heard it yesterday and thought it sounded like a baby cry. As I stepped out this morning to feed the cats, they were all crowded around at my feet meowing and crying... Elvis started in too!
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