Mockingbird Mortality?
 

Okay, I am a night owl sometimes. Just stepped out on porch and listened to our Mockingbird. Do they ever shut up? I had the thought recently that they must die of starvation or exhaustion..........Because they don't shut up long enough to eat or sleep.
Sorry! Just my crazy thought process! Love listening to them unless they choose to perch on window ledge at night!

agree, wholeheartedly. the ones outside my room are still going at three in the morning.
you would think that with all the feral cats around here the birds would find another home. no such luck. i think they keep the cats awake too. heh heh

mockingbirds will chase cats.
in fact ... next to the constant chatter ... i think chasing other animals is their next favorite activity.

i watched one chase a squirrel along the top of the fence last week.
he nailed that poor squirrel square in the butt with his beak. LOL LOL LOL

When I am down south I love hearing them sing at night. So pretty.

Unlike up north, where you might get a Whippoorwill perched outside your BR window at dawn and your thoughts turn to bird murder.....

I don't think we have mockingbirds here. We use to have whippoorwills, years ago. I seldom hear them. We have all kinds of birds and they get real noisy right before daybreak. I enjoy hearing the birds.

Those poor mockingbirds that you hear at night are single guys trying to get laid, well find a mate. It is the male's duty to prove that he will be a good protector and keep the nest safe so he mimics other kinds of birds to make them think that there is already one of that breed in the area and they will move on. The ones that chase larger birds, squirrels, etc. are on the job protesting the nest.

He, he. I awake to a whole apartment house of bird chatter every morning. Not singing, chatter. I have a huge blue spruce tree in my yard and they all chat and chat and chat. Heaven knows what about. Then the singing. Maybe they only do that to get me out of bed!

The one that always makes me laugh is early (and I mean EARLY) in the morning when a woodpecker is rapping out his message on a metal drain gutter. It resonates throughout the neighborhood. I live in a condo consisting of multiple 3 story buildings and I'm sure the lucky person with that drain pipe just outside their window considers bird murder when it happens. I'm an early riser and usually hear this when I'm walking my dog so I just chuckle.

we have mockingbirds and chuck wills' widow (sounds similar to a whipperwill, except there's a "click" sound in the beginning of their call)...mocking birds start EARLY in the morning and go all day.....chuck wills' widow starts at dusk and goes all night!! Ol' chuck likes to circle our house (we live in the woods) and if it's window open time you can't get away from him!!

The mockingbirds have been keeping DH awake during the night lately too - such a noisy bunch, and they totally scold me when I'm working in the shade gardens under "their" trees. (I love talking back to them and they get highly indignant)

We have had two robins nests in the yard that were abandoned this year - weird! One was in the holly tree at a very low height - like 2 feet. I went out to check it one day and the robin and her three eggs were gone :( (I suspect snakes or coons or cats on that one) Another one in the pyracantha higher up was abandoned with two eggs in it - don't know if they didn't like the lawn mowing and trimming that was starting to happen , or what! I felt sad about that one too - I didn't know about it until it was too late.