We have had a mystery here the past two weeks.

We keep hearing a hawk. We go out onto the deck and
there is no hawk circling overhead. But we still hear it.
From the fir tree.

Then we heard a seagull. They usually like to eat the
cherries but there are no cherries out now. And no
seagull to be seen. Just a seagull call coming from
the fir tree.

Then we hear a frog. But the frog should be
in the bog if he is calling and there is no frog
in the bog. The frog call is coming from the fir
tree.

So youngest son and I decided to stake out the
fir tree. We watched it for half an hour. The only
birds in the tree were the magpies, who are building
a nest, and four starlings.

Hmmmmmm.
I've actually heard and seen a mocking bird when
we visited the U of Tennessee. This particular mocking
bird liked to mimic a car alarm at 5am outside our
window.

But we don't have mocking birds here so could it
be the starlings?
Went to our big book of birds and sure enough
the book reports that male starlings are good
mimics.

So that explains the zoo in our fir tree.


k30a

On 16 Apr 2003 15:39:27 GMT, ESPMER (K30a) wrote:

Went to our big book of birds and sure enough
the book reports that male starlings are good
mimics.

Oh, that IS funny.......
We have a mockingbird that hangs out daily. I am used to it's
recording and will try and pick out the birds it mimics. Yesterday I
dont know if it was the same bird or not. It was going through it's
stolen calls and pauses, then, "arf, arf, WOOF!" Cracked me up. I
think it scared itself and flew off.

Kewl! Around here, all they do is chase you from their nests, which are
always built where there's activity. But we also have wild parrots, and they
do a pretty good job of doing imitations of the local fauna . . .we never
quite know what to look for. Makes it interesting . . .

Lee

"K30a" wrote in message
...

We have had a mystery here the past two weeks.

We keep hearing a hawk. We go out onto the deck and
there is no hawk circling overhead. But we still hear it.
From the fir tree.

Then we heard a seagull. They usually like to eat the
cherries but there are no cherries out now. And no
seagull to be seen. Just a seagull call coming from
the fir tree.

Then we hear a frog. But the frog should be
in the bog if he is calling and there is no frog
in the bog. The frog call is coming from the fir
tree.

So youngest son and I decided to stake out the
fir tree. We watched it for half an hour. The only
birds in the tree were the magpies, who are building
a nest, and four starlings.

Hmmmmmm.
I've actually heard and seen a mocking bird when
we visited the U of Tennessee. This particular mocking
bird liked to mimic a car alarm at 5am outside our
window.

But we don't have mocking birds here so could it
be the starlings?
Went to our big book of birds and sure enough
the book reports that male starlings are good
mimics.

So that explains the zoo in our fir tree.


k30a

We had a duck and a telephone apparently roosting in one of our trees -
starlings again!

JohnB

"Lee Brouillet" wrote in message
...
Kewl! Around here, all they do is chase you from their nests, which are
always built where there's activity. But we also have wild parrots, and
they
do a pretty good job of doing imitations of the local fauna . . .we never
quite know what to look for. Makes it interesting . . .

Lee

"K30a" wrote in message
...

We have had a mystery here the past two weeks.

We keep hearing a hawk. We go out onto the deck and
there is no hawk circling overhead. But we still hear it.
From the fir tree.

Then we heard a seagull. They usually like to eat the
cherries but there are no cherries out now. And no
seagull to be seen. Just a seagull call coming from
the fir tree.

Then we hear a frog. But the frog should be
in the bog if he is calling and there is no frog
in the bog. The frog call is coming from the fir
tree.

So youngest son and I decided to stake out the
fir tree. We watched it for half an hour. The only
birds in the tree were the magpies, who are building
a nest, and four starlings.

Hmmmmmm.
I've actually heard and seen a mocking bird when
we visited the U of Tennessee. This particular mocking
bird liked to mimic a car alarm at 5am outside our
window.

But we don't have mocking birds here so could it
be the starlings?
Went to our big book of birds and sure enough
the book reports that male starlings are good
mimics.

So that explains the zoo in our fir tree.


k30a

On 16 Apr 2003 15:39:27 GMT, ESPMER (K30a) wrote:

Went to our big book of birds and sure enough
the book reports that male starlings are good
mimics.

Hey, I was out on the opposite side of the yard watering my tomatoes
and melons this evening. I heard a frog croak 3 times and was so
thrilled, i dropped the hose to go look at the pond. THEN, the
MOCKINGBIRD did other calls! ......*sigh* It *was* funny, though.

We had a mockingbird a number of years ago who spent way too much time
outside the open bedroom window of the teenage boy next door- that bird
could do a video game so well you'd think it had a Playstation up in that
tree!

-Mak
http://www.thirtytwopaws.com/mak
Updates 1/30/03

Testosterone is a great equalizer. It turns all men into morons.
- Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Pack

If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?
-- Vince Lombardi

Mary Alice wrote that bird
could do a video game so well you'd think it had a Playstation up in that
tree!

That is too funny!
I'd like one to sit out youngest son's window and act like a car alarm to get
him up in the morning!


k30a

On Fri, 18 Apr 2003 23:23:01 GMT, "Mary Alice Kropp"
wrote:

We had a mockingbird a number of years ago who spent way too much time
outside the open bedroom window of the teenage boy next door- that bird
could do a video game so well you'd think it had a Playstation up in that
tree!

TOO FUNNY!!

K30a wrote:
Mary Alice wrote that bird

could do a video game so well you'd think it had a Playstation up in that
tree!


That is too funny!
I'd like one to sit out youngest son's window and act like a car alarm to get
him up in the morning!


k30a

We had one that would mimic our alarm clock. DH really
hated that bird on the weekend! I always thought it was
amusing to see him run to the alarm clock and find it wasn't
ringing ;-)

--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/

well our new cockatiel , the mouth from the south I bought in Mobile, successfully
smuggled aboard the train and got all the way to Chicago before being discovered!
must have been buddied up with a mockingbird cause he does a MB repertoire to
perfection!!!! Ingrid