I'd like to append a question to Leo's: How long does a particular 
imitation stay in the mockingbird's repertoire? In other words, if (as 
in Leo's example of the towhee) the mocker doesn't regularly hear a 
particular birdsong or other sound, will that imitation fade from its 
repertoire in a year or two? Or does the mockingbird keep adding new 
tunes without dropping the old ones?


On 5/17/2012 10:34 AM, Leo Weigant wrote:
>     Nancy, I share your . . . frustration.
>
>     Which prompts me to report that this spring I seem to
>     have a virtuoso mocker in my neighborhood who will
>     sit in a bush and and run through a repertoire of nearly
>     a dozen species one after another, including towhees
>     (not a neighborhood bird).
>     Only other tieme I heard such a concert was once, years
>     ago, in Texas when Mark Garland ID'd 14 species calls
>     from a mocker atop the motel where we stopped on an old
>     ANS "Foray" trip.
>
>     I suppose I should know, but don't  ~  do they do this sort of
>     showing off just during spring mating season?
>
>     Leo Weigant
>
>
>
> On May 17, 2012, at 9:38 AM, Nancy Magnusson wrote:
>
>> ... against mockingbirds doing thrashers.
>>
>

-Janet Millenson
Potomac, MD (Montgomery County)

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