Once when I was walking across a parking lot in downtown San Diego, I heard a car alarm go off above me. I looked up and saw a Mockingbird doing a perfect rendition of one, including the 4 or 5 variations of a typical car alarm.
Russ Ruffing
On 05/17/12, Joan Cwi wrote:
My mocker's only claim to fame is imitating perfectly the squeaky
fence gate, which makes constantly go check to see who came in...
Joan
On May 17, 2012, at 11:44 AM, Marcia Watson wrote:
> One of my favorite backyard mockers at my former
> home in Elkton could do a perfect Black-whiskered
> Vireo. It led me to wonder where and for how long
> the mockingbird was exposed to the Vireo song.
>
> Marcia
>
> _________________________
> Marcia Watson
> Bowie, MD
>
>
>
> Marcia
>
> _________________________
> Marcia Watson
> Bowie, MD
>
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
>
> Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 11:24:20 -0400
> From: Janet Millenson <>
> Subject: Re: There oughta be a law ...
> To:
>> 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
>>
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