Friday, June 03, 2016

The mockingbird

For several years we had a mockingbird who would perch at the top of the utility pole holding the wires that bring electricity to our home and sing his heart out.  Not only did he sing, but he did a certain dance and a few acrobatics while he was at it.  In 2010 I shot a video of him.  It's at quite a distance, but you can see and hear him pretty well.  Ignore the smudge on the camera... back when I took a camera horseback riding with me in the early mornings, moisture tended to gather inside my cameras and ruin them after a couple of years.  Anyhow, meet Mr. Mockingbird: 



For at least the last two years, Mr. Mockingbird has failed to show up.  I've missed him sorely.  

A couple of evenings ago I was getting eggs at the chicken house, stepped out to go to the house, and heard the familiar sound of a mockingbird singing without, seemingly, stopping to take a breath.  I had heard him a couple of times lately, but this time I was in the mood to track him down.  I looked in the direction from which the sound was coming.
It seemed to be coming from the vicinity of that big barrel.



I walked about halfway down that line of trees before I spotted him at the tip-top of the furthest Norway Spruce, a tree about ten feet tall.  He was singing his heart out.  

I have no idea whether this is the same bird, but I know I've heard his songs coming from that direction twice, so maybe that's his chosen location.  I am thankful for his return, because he makes me smile.

Now if only I'd hear a whippoorwill.  One of my fondest childhood memories is one of lying at Grandma's house on a featherbed, on an early summer evening near an open window, listening to the whippoorwills across the road singing their unique song.  We've lived here 41 years now, I've only heard a whippoorwill once on our property, back when I had my cabin in the woods and spent a night there.  I wonder if I could google up a 10-minute recording of whippoorwills singing.  I could listen to it sometimes as I'm going to sleep.  I've lamented their demise before on this blog.  

Is it a sign of old age when you spend time thinking about things (and people) you can no longer see and hear? 

3 comments:

  1. I too love mockingbirds. In upstate NY they are around, just not a lot of them, and mostly in urban areas. I haven't had one at my place where I currently live and I've been here 10 years.
    As I get older, I find myself thinking a lot about things that have happened in the past, revisiting favorite memories and not so favorite ones. When I took my human development class, that was part of the curriculum and it is part of aging!

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  2. Mockingbirds! Oh, I love their sweet song! We have quite a few here, and late in the evening is when they seem to come alive with song. They put me too sleep listening to their beautiful chirping outside my bedroom window. They are my favorite bird, next to the crow. Most people don't care for crows, but I love them. Believe it or not, they are the smartest of the bird species. Never forgets a face, and if you've been mean to them, they will remember and you better watch the top of your head when you're walking outside, cause they will gettcha! lol I hear the crows in the early morning and they lull me back to sleep with their "cawing", which to most people would be totally annoying!

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  3. there is nothing more calming to a persons soul than the sweet sound of a bird singing. Glad your mockingbird is back

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