If you live in Borrego and sleep with windows open, you are sure to be familiar with an unusual melody. This is truly music of the night. Crickets hum, coyotes sing, owls hoot...but NOTHING can match the persistence of the mockingbird! He sings all night...one encore after another.
The mockingbird is able to sing the songs of other birds...repeating them three or four times- until he gets them right, I guess. It's fun to identify the other bird medleys so ably copied by him. Our night singer is probably a bachelor ( females sing, too, but more softly and, usually, not at night ). I've heard him singing in more voices than you can count! It is said that he keeps learning new songs all his life and can sing over 300 tunes! I have even heard a " bell " sound coming from that versatile throat! A mockingbird will copy mechanical noises, insect noises, frogs and a friend from San Clemente told me they even copy car alarms! ( Oh, how I hope he doesn't start barking ! )
They are fierce defenders of territory, so you probably don't need to worry about having too many mockingbirds in your garden. Our resident bird creates such a noisy fracas when other birds come into his "space" that I have had to go outside to see what was wrong! They do have an eye for my strawberries and try to get under the netting. The birds are disliked by some...a neighbor even named her resident mockingbird, 'Killer" ...he attacked other birds and nests in her garden.
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Some people might be bothered by this night music. We just wake up, listen for awhile, identify a few tunes and are then lulled back to sleep by nature's flying troubador.
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