About 25 years ago, near the corner of Massachusetts Ave. and 6th St., NE, on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, I heard a calling "bob WHITE" on a fairly continual basis.  

At night.

A mocker for sure.  But how and where did he pick up the quail call????


On May 17, 2012, at 11:24 AM, Janet Millenson wrote:

> 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)
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> "Look at the birds!" -- Pascal the parrot
> 
> ############################
> 
> To unsubscribe from the MDOSPREY list:
> write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
> or click the following link:
> http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MDOSPREY&A=1

############################

To unsubscribe from the MDOSPREY list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MDOSPREY&A=1