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Mockingbirds & farewell



Hi there,

We have a nest with three baby Mockers in it in a holly just outside our office door. The babies are just about ready to fledge. I have been setting out a small bowl with mealworms purchased from Wild Birds Unlimited, and they seem to be much appreciated.

When the bowl is empty, both parents stand and peer through the glass door at me, and growl until I come out and fill the bowl up.

You'd think that my offering of meal worms would mean they wouldn't mind if I took a look at the nest to see how the babies were faring. Wrongo. I hadn't even touched the holly bush, and I got beaned on the back of the head by either the mom or dad.

Which reminds me, Mockingbirds do this thing I call Mocker Aerobics. The bird stands on the ground, takes a few steps forward, and raises it’s wings with a kind of one-two-three-four move.  Then takes a few more steps, and repeats.  I am inclined to think that this is a display of some sort, so can I assume that it’s the male doing it?

So anyway, now anyone coming in or out of the front door gets dive-bombed. I am pretty sure that this will stop once the babies fledge. At least I hope so. We are joking about not activating the security system at night. We don't need it; we have watchbirds.

Unfortunately, I've had an emotionally wrenching and awful last few days, so I know that I'm taking this too hard; you don't have to tell me. But, getting jumped on by various people for my Coyote post has kind of been the proverbial straw. 

I had thought we were having a good conversation about the advance of nature. I guess I should have listed pet parakeets with the cats and dogs among the Cape Cod Coyote's victims, to keep the message on-topic. :-)

I'm going to be leaving the list after this post. I can't believe it's been over three years since I joined. I've had a lot of fun, and I hope most of my posts haven't been offensive.

I apologize to everyone for the six seconds of their lives I wasted by making them read my evil, non-birding post. :)

Lisa G.
LisaBirder@aol.com
Raleigh, NC