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“Our” Northern Mockingbird, the one that can often be found surveying its territory from the tippy-top of our Norfolk pine, has been singing constantly — all night long! Poor thing, it must be desperately seeking a nice, female mockingbird. Longing for love ...
We’ve been seeing what must be resident Collard Lizards near the house. One of them has the most stunning, jewel-like aqua blue I’ve ever seen on one. Tried to get a photo but he ran off. This one was pestering a female, chasing her in circles on the sunny boulder in front of the house. She told him, basically, Bugger Off! and escaped.!
Perhaps the brighter than usual blue is connected to the mating, perhaps an evolved characteristic that draws attention.
I know that the head of a male turkey will be bright blue as he struts and shows his prowess in his attempts to mate.
DH was pleased as punch yesterday when a very curious black capped chickadee landed in his palm and took a sunflower seed.
Another observation - This spring, a new house was built on a lovely piece of land that was formerly (for many years) the territory of a mockingbird. As the land was being cleared and the house was being built, we would quite often see and hear the mockingbird watching and chirping from a nearby location with what we thought was somewhat distressed behavior.
But a couple of days ago, we were relieved to notice that he/she had settled comfortably (and was singing up a storm) into a small hillside tree in the next-door (next door to the new house, and thus not very far from former territory) open field. It's a little closer to houses, but apparently deemed to be satisfactory after a few weeks of thoughtful consideration.
Resourceful little bird.
Last edited by LilyMae521; 05-21-2020 at 05:50 AM..
Among other things, he categorizes bird species into three ways of reacting to human presence:
Exploiters—species that benefit from human presence, know it, and take advantage of it! Think crows, house sparrows, and other common birds.
Toleraters—species that put up with people, basically, not seeking to reap benefits from human presence but not driven away.
Avoiders—species who actively steer clear of humans and their accouterments.
Based on comments from people who have mockingbirds living close to them, it sounds like they are not usually avoiders, yet where I live they seem to fit that category. But “mine” are migrants.
Among other things, he categorizes bird species into three ways of reacting to human presence:
Exploiters—species that benefit from human presence, know it, and take advantage of it! Think crows, house sparrows, and other common birds.
Toleraters—species that put up with people, basically, not seeking to reap benefits from human presence but not driven away.
Avoiders—species who actively steer clear of humans and their accouterments.
Based on comments from people who have mockingbirds living close to them, it sounds like they are not usually avoiders, yet where I live they seem to fit that category. But “mine” are migrants.
Phoebes always want to nest on a house, yet are distressed by people coming out of said house and walking around. I wonder what they do in an area with no houses, or before people built houses.
When I saw a pair trying to build a nest on a small round outdoor thermometer, I put up a couple of shelves for them under the eaves, which they used happily for years.
Among other things, he categorizes bird species into three ways of reacting to human presence:
Exploiters—species that benefit from human presence, know it, and take advantage of it! Think crows, house sparrows, and other common birds.
Toleraters—species that put up with people, basically, not seeking to reap benefits from human presence but not driven away.
Avoiders—species who actively steer clear of humans and their accouterments.
Based on comments from people who have mockingbirds living close to them, it sounds like they are not usually avoiders, yet where I live they seem to fit that category. But “mine” are migrants.
I have not read that book, thank you for the reference. I'll look for it on bibliomation and get it from our library when it opens up.
I'd say that the mockingbirds I've seen over the years were toleraters. I posted a while back, I think upthread, about a mockingbird that sang me into work, from parking lot to office in a small city, for years. The hustle and bustle of the city did not deter it from it's chosen territory.
Now, the black capped chickadee is definitely an exploiter. :-)
I would like to read this book too! because I am one who believes people, and our activities, can often be a benefit to wildlife, especially if we are so encouraged, most people would like to be a benefit, and we are often only talked about as a detriment.
I have at least a dozen bird houses hanging from our eaves, we have I think several generations of green and white tree swallows who nest there. We also have several generations of barn swallows in the barn.
Our place is, because of it's location along a creek, lush lowland prairie topography bordering 800 acres of timber, a very popular crossroads and habitat for lots of wildlife. And we have gone out of our way to both accommodate and keep ourselves and our livestock safe from it. We keep horse, goats, sheep, chickens and a pig, and we have coyotes, deer, bears and cougar who frequent and pass through, not far from our fences. We love them both and do our best to keep them separated. If the wildlife misbehave though, we will have to draw a line, but so far, they have not. We are trying to make sure that good stout electric fencing keeps everyone on their best behavior.
Somehow though, we live here, with a pair of nesting eagles in our pasture, and have never, knock on wood, lost a chicken to them. We must be doing something right to strike a balance. We wouldn't have it any other way.
I will look for this book, in my quest to nurture these relationships.... don't think we're always the bad guy, I don't think we give humans enough credit sometimes.
I swear that the insect eaters (swallows, flycatchers, gnatcatchers) leap up and down for joy when I hand-pull weeds. Fact is, last summer I cursed the clouds of gnats that arose when I was weeding among certain bushy weeds.
You could call it almost a win-win for people and birds. Not for the gnats! I only say “almost” because I got fed up with doing way too much weeding.
But thank you, bug hunting birds! I love seeing the swallows zipping around above me snapping up food for themselves while giving me a bit of relief from the biters.
There are some warblers that sound sort of like your description but those aren't close to being robin sized and clearly don't have cone shaped bills.
Thanks for your efforts. It's still a mystery.
The marks on the wings are distinctly random spots and not orderly stripes. The breast was very pale yellow. I've watched for a rerun but so far no luck.
The other day there was a worm on my back patio that must have been close to a foot long.
I actually saw it twice. The first time I "rescued" it and took it off my patio and tossed it into my brushy area, where I thought it would be safer. Just before I did that, however, I witnessed what looked like it shedding its skin! Had never seen anything like that before.
A little while later it must have crawled back onto my patio again (either that or it was another one of the same length). I tried "rescuing" it again and it curled up when I touched it with a stick, and it did the shedding routine again, but this time it was more like it was secreting some yucky substance. I presume that was some sort of defensive thing. But it also made me wonder if the first time I saw it wasn't "shedding" but the same defensive measure. However, when it did it the first time nobody was bothering it yet, so I'm not sure what it was defending itself against.
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We wouldn't have it any other way. 