Northern Mockingbird

Description:

10". Black head,shoulders, rump gray; paler grayish white below; 2 slender wing bars and large wing patch white; Tail blackish, with white outer tail feathers. Bill short, thin. Sings conspicuously by day and often in the night. Bold, brash newcomer from South since 1950s. Voice: Song- Mimics other birds, repeats songs 3- 6 times. Calls- loud "Chack", softer "Chair"

Habitat:

Shrubs, fields, towns. Range- Resident in south and central New England, Spreading north.

Notes:

Most of the photos weren't too great for this spotting, but this Mockingbird was doing something I had never seen a Mockingbird do before... it was pretending to be a "Killdeer". The bird was also hanging out where I have seen many Killdeer in the past, so I originally thought that is what it was! I have had problems seeing Killdeer here in the past because they kind of blend in with the dirt, and so the fact that I had a hard time seeing this bird was no surprise. Plus, I began snapping photos from far away (thus the poor quality of my photos) so I didn't really know that it wasn't a Killdeer until I stopped and looked over my pictures. No white on the front? Of course the bird had white on the wings... The mocking bird called like a Killdeer alerting, came down to the ground, calling and running away from the side of the field where the nests usually are, and also splayed out it's wings to mock the Killdeer's "broken wing" behavior which is to get predators to follow away from the nests. Yep! This Mockingbird was doing all of this! On my way home, I decided to walk back the way I came to see if I could see another Mocking bird doing the same behavior. However, I did not. I saw a bunch of Killdeer hanging out in the field, alerting, and running off into a direction that led away from the trees along the river side. One of the Killdeer did the "broken wing" display. I took lots of pictures of the Killdeer to try to capture all the behaviors that I had caught the Mockingbird doing. The Northern Mockingbird is one of my favorite birds... they imitate birds without fault, and obviously has some performance acting skills as well! Some smart! SOURCE: Nat'l Audubon Society- Field Guide to New Engand (by Peter Alden & Brain Cassie)