As much as the Mockingbird is known for its “many tongued
mimicking” that we talked about in the last blog, it is also infamous for it’s
pugnacious defense of not just it’s nesting site but also its wintering
territory. Considering they can have
up to 4 broods in the summer, and then defend their food supply area in the
winter, there is hardly a season when you won’t find the mockingbird sailing
out of it’s tree to attack something or other.
According to John Tveten in “The Birds of Texas”, one of the
selling points on making the Mockingbird the State Bird in 1927 was that it was
“…a singer of distinctive type, a fighter for the protection of it’s home,
falling if need be, in it’s defense, like any true Texan…” “Remember the Alamo” apparently extends to TX
birds too!
Most Mockingbirds don’t take it that far, but it has been noted
in “Audubon’s Field Guide to the Birds” that they can end up injuring
themselves mortally, not when fighting another mockingbird, but when taking on
their image in a car mirror or window. “Man,
that other mockingbird won’t quit attacking!”
When I came house
hunting in Texas , I parked my car near some cedars that must have housed a nest, for each time I came out, my mirrors and the side of the car were coated
in Mockingbird droppings. It was so
frequent that I wondered if this poor bird would die of dehydration if he kept
it up. I should have covered the mirrors
with a plastic bag saving myself a lot of clean up, and the mockingbird a lot
of lost fluids.
Mockingbirds mount the fiercest defense when their offspring
are in the fledgling stage, when other predators see them as the perfect
mid-day snack. This is where you get the
pictures of mockingbirds attacking hawks, cats, dogs and people who come to
close. 
The University of Florida did a study on this behavior and
sent out intrepid students to go and touch the nest. That didn’t go over well with the parent
mockingbirds and so we have this iconic picture of a mockingbird attacking the
“touchee” . What they discovered was, it
only took 60 seconds for the mockingbird to imprint this person on their
memory. The one being attacked in this
picture is the one that had touched the nest while the people around her were
left alone. “Smart as crows” you might
say. The Cornell student who climbed up
to crows’ nests to mark the eggs had his car attacked anytime he drove through
Ithaca. Not such “bird brains” after
all!
Mockingbirds also have been seen doing this “wing-flash”
strut, walking a few steps, then up with the wings, and then walking on. No one knows why yet,: to flush insects? To
scare rivals, yet none seem to be about.
Not all questions have answers.
They do spread their wings and tail feathers in flight to impress the
ladies, but this seems different.
The other behavior I have yet to see but I am watching for,
is when two males meet at their territory lines, and they start this sidestepping
dance, hop, side step- bob heads; just their way of saying, “This far and no
farther”.
Fall is coming, and they will start a whole new round of
chases and singing, as the pair of mockingbirds will be defending their winter
food supply. Females go after intruding
females, males after males. And as the
mockingbird has become more and more , we all have a chance to keep on the
lookout for this one.
I don’t know about you, but for me there is so much more to
bird watching than just noting what species you are seeing. What are they doing and why? That’s the more interesting question in my
book. And by the way, the mockingbird
that was going through the “bird downloads” a week ago, is as silent as the
grave now. This is probably the third
batch of mockingbirds this season! My
peaches don’t stand a chance. Ok, enough
about Mockingbirds…on to other things next time.
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