Northern Mockingbird perched in the Magnolia tree a few minutes ago:

Lin they are very cool. Are Mocking Birds mimics?

The Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of Florida. Yes, they are mimics & excellent at it too! But they not only mimic other birds, they mimic squeaky gate hinges, sirens & barking dogs --- all kinds of things. However, I personally, have never heard one bark like a dog or imitate a siren. They do have beautiful songs though & I can't say that *I* have ever heard them mimic a particular bird. For example, I have never heard them mimic a blue jay or a cardinal ~~~ there has just never been a time where I said, "Look! That mockingbird is singing just like a cardinal."

During breeding season, all night long, a young male will sing it's heart out throughout the night & sometimes it can be quite annoying, keeping you awake if it's right outside your BR window. On the other hand, it can be enchanting if you're a person who sleeps well & easily ~~~ if you wake in the night & hear the lovely singing.

Like flaflwrgrl, I've never actually noticed a Mockingbirds as it's mimicking other sounds but apparently they are great mimics and have

The Blue Jay is a bird that will mimic a hawk; I see and hear them often and sometimes I think I'm truly hearing a hawk so I grab my camera to run outside for a photo and it will be a Blue Jay! Yesterday I just knew it was a hawk I was hearing, but it was a Blue Jay perched in the Crepe Myrtle tree. I also see Blue Jays at times mimicking the hawk call to scare other backyard birds into hiding so that they can have the feeders to themselves! The Jays don't seem to hide so much when hawks are around but rather stay out in the open on the fence or power lines constantly making loud screeching calls to warn the other birds. The Northern Cardinals and smaller birds hide in the trees and make quieter clicking sounds when hawks are near.

Lin. Blue jays can sound an awful lot like hawks.

My dh read in an venerable source about how the Mockingbird came to be our state bird. It goes like this:
The powers that be narrowed it down to 2 birds. The Nightinggale & the Mockingbird. To make the final decision, they took 1 of each & caged them & put them up in, I'm 99% positive it said Bok Tower, & listened. In other words, they had a "sing off" and were so taken by the songs of the Mockingbird that it won & became our state bird.

I often wondered how it came to be our state bird b/c it is not particularly the most colorful or handsome bird in our state but it does have one of the most lovely repertoire of songs.

Ann: I'd never heard that story but it is kinda cool. Nightingales aren't found in the U.S, the true Nightingale is a European bird so I wonder if someone way back brought a Nightingale from Europe to Florida and caged it at Bok Tower with the Mockingbird? The Northern Mockingbird has been referred to as the Florida Nightingale because of it's continuous singing at times during the night. Many folks don't like Mockingbirds or Blue Jays and call them bully birds but I love them both. I have heard that Mockers will fiercely defend the territory for a good distance around their nest but we've had them nest in our yard for years and I've never seen them attack with much vengeance. We once had an indoor-outdoor cat and a resident mocker would dive bomb the cat when there were young in the nest but never to the point of making the kitty afraid. but that cat never tried to get to the nest either. We have a pair nesting in our yard here every year, sometimes two or more pair with nests in our yard and our next door neighbors yard. One nest in our yard is quite low and the adults seem oblivious to my presence; perhaps they sense that I'm not a threat. Sometimes they sit in the Magnolia tree watching and waiting for me to put raisins, berries etc. in the feeder that hangs in the Magnolia and as soon as I walk @ three feet away they fly down to the feeder to sample the goodies. I love all birds and their chirps/tweets/twitters but the Mockingbird is still one of my favorites! The Northern Mockingbird is also the state bird of Tennessee and Texas, and I think a couple of other states too but I don't remember which ones.

Cold here. My only trip outside was to put out the birdseed this morning. I also threw out some pieces of stale bread for any birds that might like to eat them.

I checked that too Lin on the computer about the Nightingale & found the same as you so I don't know what they did with a Nightingale. But it absolutely said Nightingale & I was surprised b/c all my life living here & never heard of a Nightingale. It was some history book on Florida; it wasn't just some old wives tales book.
I have found the same as you with regards to both Blue Jays & Mockingbirds. We've had both nests & fledglings in our yard before & no problems. Oh, if the dog would get too close to where a fledgling was hiding out then a parent would swoop down screeching like a banshee but upon observation it was all for show & no go. The dog never bothered one of the fledglings so all was well.

I'm hoping our dog will be a good boy if any fledgling birds appear this spring. I will watch him closely because he wants to chase everything that moves ... he sees a flock of gulls or other birds flying overhead and he runs as if he thinks he can take off and fly after them! :greengrin:

I bet the Nightingale was brought over from Europe at some point like the European Starlings that were released in N.Y. in the 1800's and are now considered to be nuisance birds by some folks here in the U.S. I've heard that they are in Fla. year round but I've only seen them on a few occasions over the years. I think they are pretty in their own way and I hear they are great mimickers too.

The European starling is definitely a good mimic. I grew up in England. When I was a child (in the days before everybody had digital alarm clocks) my brother would whistle to wake me up in the morning. A starling learned to imitate the whistle, and I kept getting up for school too early, as I could not tell when it was the bird and when it was my brother.

I can also attest to mockingbirds singing all night, as one used to perch on the roof of my house in PA and sing endlessly at all hours, the mad thing! There are no mockingbirds where I live now, but I'm told they are moving north and if Global Warming continues they will be here one day.

I've also been fooled by blue jays sounding like hawks, but I didn't know they were deliberately imitating them.

My pic taken through the window today is of a couple of mourning doves sheltering from the cold on my verandah, which faces south. I think that's a junco on the snow behind them.

June: Love that photo with the Doves and that cute little Junco! I wouldn't be surprised if you see the Northern Mockingbird in your area at some point; they used to be a strictly a southern bird but they have moved north and are now found throughout most of the U.S. and parts of Canada.

http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/wi...

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...

Yellow Cardinal
Pic from Springfield, Il. newspaper today in the Prairie State Outdoors section. Picture taken in a west central Illinois town.

Oh my. How pretty!

Oh my, a Yellow Cardinal, how pretty! I've never heard of a yellow cardinal and apparently they are rare. Thanks for sharing these photo's J! I had to google to read more about these beauties:

http://biology.eku.edu/kos/yel...

http://neotropical.birds.corne...

Top link is right on...other link interesting.

Very cool J. Thanks for sharing that.

Yesterday we had a high of 78ºF ... today it's only in the mid 40's, cloudy, dreary and drizzling rain. Although the feeders are full, the birds seem to be staying away; maybe huddling up in the shrubs/trees trying to stay warm! I took these photo's yesterday afternoon:

Warbler, Northern Mockingbird, Grackle:


Red-bellied Woodpecker, female:


Red-bellied Woodpecker, male, the second photo was through the fence when the bird flew down to get a raisin that had fallen from the feeder:

Wonderful shots Lin!

Thank you Margaret!

mcash70 said:Wonderful shots Lin!