Mock-Yeah-Ing-Yeah-Bird-Yeah!

Jun 19, 2010 10:22 AM Filed in: Day To Day
Mockingbird01
Everybody have you heard? LOL!

We have a mocking bird. Actually we have two, a wonderfully entertaining pair of mockingbirds who have lived in our yard now for two years. It's a lot of fun to watch them going about their birdy business and generally roaming around the yard keeping things in tip top shape, at least that's what it appears they think they are doing. And when the weather is nice enough to sleep with the windows open I enjoy hearing their song pretty much all through the night. It can be 2AM out there and pitch black, and those two will still be busy, busy, busy and singing away. Now that might irk some people, but I love it.

And all that construction we had out front last summer, it didn't seem to phase them. They just took it all in stride, and each evening when the workers were gone they'd stake out their new perches and run up and down the piles of what ever lumber or other materials were left out there, making lots of squawking comments about the general state of things. I think they were less than satisfied. But this summer everything is different for all of us, no construction, and instead we have a wonderful front porch and a lovely arbor out front with some nice landscaping taking shape, strawberries and flowers growing in abundance, and a nice long lazy hot summer stretching out ahead of us, lots of quality time for all of us to enjoy the yard and each other. Well, maybe "enjoy" isn't quite the word for all of us. My three cats Josie, Midnight, and Finn might beg to differ.

You see earlier this spring Finn must have done something, I'm sure he did really, he's the kind of young whipper snapper who is always getting into things and cruisin' for a bruisin'.
CatBlackCute
Last year my neighbor said she saw him one evening zooming out of the stand of pine trees away up the hill and racing across the front yard to the house with two large racoons following behind in pursuit. LOL! He's a true Jack Sparrow sort of pirate cat, I'm sure you get the picture. Anyways, little Finn must have done something because one day this spring the mockingbirds decided he needed some extra attention and general whipping into shape.

 The first I noticed it was one afternoon when he came blasting into the house through the open glass of the front storm door which I often leave half open in the good weather. Finn sat there in the middle of the living room, all twitchy and jumpy, tail whipping back and forth, and outside on the front porch rail I saw Mr. Mockingbird all poofed out, head down, tail up and wagging back and forth just scolding away. He had chased Finn into the house!
Mockingbird
After that I started paying more attention to these two, and time and time again when Finn would go out into the front yard he would be chased around by dive bombing mockingbirds! Now Josie and Midnight go out all the time too, they spend just as much time in our front yard as Finn does, but the mockingbirds don't seemed too concerned with them. Just Finn. I did once see Midnight get dive bombed from behind when she was sitting on the walkway, but she just flinched a little then looked up with a "why me?" expression on her face and the mockingbirds seemed to leave her alone after that. Midnight spends most of her days sleeping on a rocking chair on the front porch and when she's out there by herself I here nary a peep out of Mr. and Mrs. Mockingbird. Midnight is black like Finn though, and I have a feeling they just mistargeted her on that occasion. That's my theory anyway. But Finn they have zeroed in on this summer for sure. ^-^

It's become such a normal thing now though that everybody seems to have fallen into well rehearsed roles, and our summer is playing out long and lazy only now with a little added excitement for all of us from time to time. Finn has learned to hold his ground, and it now almost appears as if he and the mockingbirds are enjoying their daily little ballet in the front yard. Finn goes about his business, and the mockingbirds perch in the arbor, or on the porch roof, or in the pear tree and scold away waiting for him to turn his back so they can dive bomb him! And when they do Finn flinches and flattens out on his belly on the ground, tail whipping back and forth, looking up and around to see where they are. Sometimes he sees them coming and does a little leap up at them, and they swerve away circling around looking for another angle. This will go on sometimes for 10 or 15 minutes as Finn slowly works his way across the yard to where ever he wants to be going. It's pretty funny to watch.
CatHiemlich
And sometimes now he just sits on the front porch and Mr. Mockingbird will come perch on the porch rail or sometimes even the back of the rocking chair that Midnight is sleeping on, and he squawks and scolds, feathers poofed out, head down, tail up and wagging back and forth! And Finn will just sit there on the porch and pretend he doesn't see or hear him. It's too funny. I just hope though that Mr. Mockingbird doesn't get too confident in this game....or we may have to perform a little kitty heimlich maneuver at some point. ^-^

The mockingbirds really do seem to like the front porch now. They make themselves right at home. I often see one of them running up and down the porch railings or perched on the back of Midnight's rocking chair,
Mockingbird03
and a few times now when I've been laying on my couch watching TV with the front windows open, one of them will perch on the porch rail right by the window, look inside at me, and sqauwk. LOL! It makes me wonder if maybe things get a little slow for them out there when the cats and I are all inside? I don't know, but it sure is funny to feel like I'm being called outside by a mockingbird. It almost feels now like we're one big happy (mostly) family here, sharing our big front yard, our homey front porch, enjoying what our summer months bring us, and from time to time making our own fun. It's nice. I think Carly and James had it right, and I hope it lasts all summer and fall just like this.