Northern MockingbirdJanuary 2006
 


The northern mockingbird is an robin-sized bird with many beautiful songs. It can mimic other birds or sounds but also has original tunes. You'd invite this bird to any party.

Its coloring is an elegant gray and white, with white wing and tail patches. Below one can see the wing patches, which aren't always evident.
 

Northern mockingbird
 
  Here's a better contrast photo showing the gray and white.
 
Northern mockingbird portrait
 
  When seeking a mate or declaring territory, a mockingbird stakes the high ground for its singing. While singing, the mockingbird occasionally does a leap of joy, an exclamation mark to a particular song.

Following is a sequence of two photos. The mockingbird below wasn't singing, but it did look as if it was inspecting the high point of a dead tree.
 
Northern mockingbird
 
After several minutes, it flew off. It was the manner of flying off that impressed me. The mockingbird didn't open its wings immediately but let itself fall and I suppose gather speed.
 
Northern mockingbird launch
 
Photo note: I used a Pentax *ist D, with the SMC-A* 300mm (plus 1.7x autofocus adapter) for the first photo and the SMC 400-600mm reflex lens for the following three.



My Pennsylvania bird list

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