Here is yet another delightful experience of mine with a mockingbird as the key player…
The other day, I stood in the neighborhood playground singing the nursery rhyme, “Sing a Song of Six Pence” with the two-year-old boy that I have charge of from 9 to 2, M-F. As we repeated the words and added silly hand gestures to impersonate the black birds in the song, the king, the queen and the maid, I heard the sweet twittering of a mockingbird that perched in a birch tree just beyond the fence that surrounds the play area.
It occurred to me that the little avian was trying its best to sing along with us. So, we started another round of the song and sure enough, the little gray bird with white on its underside and long black tail feathers, tweeted several different bird calls that seemed to indicate that it was doing its best to mimic into bird song the notes we sang so lustily.
In my mind, this delightful incident went to solidify the amazing character of these little song birds. Their feathers may not possess lush, magnificent colors, but their intelligence and ability to mimic what they hear goes a long way toward their popularity poll.
Also, with the advent of the mockingjays of Hunger Games fame, this little bird should become all that much more popular!
(The photograph at the right, made me think of a beautiful girl, dressed in a kimono, dancing. Or perhaps, the little mockingbird is conducting a symphony.)
Enjoy!
Photo by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Manjithkaini
References:
Mockingbird: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mockingbird
Northern Mockingbird (Includes example of its song.): http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_mockingbird/sounds/ac
Related articles
- Bird that “Meows” Like a Cat (creativemusingsoflediar.com)
- Who needs a watchdog – I have a yellow-rumped warbler (pattisjarrett.wordpress.com)
- Northern Mockingbird (roketman.wordpress.com)
- Northern Mockingbird Editing (bobzeller.wordpress.com)
- Bird Songs (showjoy.wordpress.com)
- Mockingbird Song (explorationart.wordpress.com)


Ours haven’t shown up yet. They used to appear in Maine around the first of May, but things seem to be changing in the bird world.
My brother used to make sounds so that the mockingbird would repeat them when we were kids. You post brought that memory back.
Thank you, Sandy for your wonderful comments. It makes me happy knowing my mockingbird post brought back such sweet memories for you. Have a fabulous day! I plan to.
Thanks for sharing!
What a great shot! It is almost as if your mockingbird friend was posing for the photograph for you. I love the texture and color of his wings.
I wish that I could take credit for this amazing photo, but truth be told, I got it from wiki-commons. It was one of the available pics in WordPress Media Gallery. Since you admired it so, I searched for the original photographer. This is their link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Manjithkaini. I am sure they would love to know how much you admired it.
Wow, that was sweet of you to take the time to do that, Ledia. It is truly a wonderful photograph.
It truly is.
Bril’ photo..;)
I wish that I could take credit for this amazing photo, but truth be told, I got it from wiki-commons. It was one of the available pics in WordPress Media Gallery. Since several of you admired it, I searched for the original photographer. This is their link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Manjithkaini. I am sure they would love to know how much you admired it.
I agree, the mockingbird looks like a girl in kimono dancing or is conducting a symphony!
Don’t you just love nature photographs that turn out like that? I wish I had a camera and could go around finding amazing photographs like that to take.
A lovely happening and yes, when I first looked at your photo I thought of an opera singer walking up stage, arms outstretched, in Madame Butterfly. Thanks v much for sharing this 😉
You are very welcome. Thank you for stopping by.
You are very welcome, DoF.
what a marvellous shot
Thank you so much, Dianne. I didn’t take the photo, but the photographer’s link is under the photo on my post. It is a really wonderful shot and that is the reason I chose it. The artist is incredibly talented. I can hardly believe they just gave it away for free to share with whoever wants to use it. They are the kind one.
That is such a sweet form of ‘imitation as the sincerest form of flattery’ that it seems a little unfair to name this lovely little bird a Mocking-bird! 🙂 What a delightful incident. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Kathryn
I do adore mockingbirds the more I get to know them. Everyday when I take my walk, I look for them. It’s like they are little friends waiting to say hello.
Thank you for liking Dare to be different post..Happy weekend to yah!
This is an amazing story!! Magical almost.. What a friendly, talented and social bird!:-)
That’s what I thought. I never knew before that mockingbird were so intelligent.
Thank you for sharing this story with us:-)
You are very welcome.
🙂