This morning while walking down the drive way to pick up my newspaper, I noticed a number of birds in the adjacent bushes so I stopped and gave a low tremolo whistle (hopefully like a screech owl) and I have never seen such a mobbing before. Within a few seconds I had the following:
Yellow bellied Sapsucker 2
Downy Woodpecker 2
Blue Jay 3
Northern Mockingbird 1
White breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 2
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 4
White throated Sparrow 10+
Dark eyed Junco 3
Northern Cardinal 3
The titmice and chickadees came within a few feet of me and the wrens and sparrows formed the next layer. The rest stayed about 15-25 feet away, but all were constantly moving around. After a minute or so, I continued down the drive way, picked up my paper and when I returned to the area where all the birds were, almost all had gone, just a few White throats remained. A most interesting moment!
Winger West
Millersville, MD
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