I got my 8th mocking bird of the day, and it was because I head the sound
of a truck's air brakes engaging- in the air. Sure enough, it was a
northern mockingbird on a wire. I've heard some really impressive alarm
calls, vehicle sequences, trucks backing up, black capped chickadee calls
and several other sounds emanating from mocking birds, but the squealing of
breaks and the mechanical sound associated is a new one for me.
I have a warehouse and truck loading dock near my office, which is
obviously where the bird picked up the sound- however, it wasn't a call i
head at all last year, so this has to be a pretty smart bird. I used to
live in high rise apartments which is where I I had several mockingbirds
sporting various car alarm sequences (each seemed to have a sequence or
vehicle of choice). I got really excited birding an area near my house the
other day, and heard a black capped chickadee- knowing the likely hood of
that, i went some distance for a positive ID- of course, it was a mocking
bird. Apparently this particular bird was fond of his previous neighbors
and came from an area that had black caps.
How adaptive are the mocking birds near you, and what are their stolen
songs of choice? How reflective is it of where you live/work?
