[CT Birds] Mockingbird sounds....

[Rick Baumhauer]

Mimics can imitate a wide variety of sounds.  As another response  
noted, Mockingbirds have been known to do spot-on renditions of car  
alarms, among other environmental sounds.  In Attenborough's "The Life  
of Birds", there is footage of a bird (I believe in the South Pacific  
somewhere) that was able to mimic the sound of a 35mm camera shutter  
and motor drive, as well as (more worryingly) chainsaws and other  
mechanical sounds.

Just one of the reasons why the Mockingbird is my favorite "common"  
bird - their vocal inventiveness often brings surprises, and I love  
their attitude and spunk.  Young Mockingbirds are also a lot of fun,  
especially when they're learning to their somewhat-mechanical  
wingspread to scare up insects.

Rick Baumhauer
West Hartford, CT

On May 22, 2009, at 8:50 AM, Brian Webster wrote:

>
> 5/22-
>
> Yesterday my resident Mockingbird threw out a call that confused me  
> a bit.  It was a dead ringer for the trill of a Tree Frog.  It was  
> the first call in his series of 30+ (a few wweks ago I tried to  
> count and messed up around 31).
>
>
> Then again late late last night (1:40a) I heard him singing softly.   
> I've heard Mockingbirds sing at night, but he made the Tree Frog  
> sounding call again.
>
>
> Has anyone ever heard of Mockingbirds immitating the sounds of non- 
> birds??
>
>
> -Brian Webster-
> Stratford, CT
> b.webster at hotmail.com
>
>
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