BIRDS IN MY BACKYARD

MOCKINGBIRD

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL THING

By Kevin McLean

I was sitting in the back porch and no more than 20 feet away perched on a gumbo limbo tree was a mockingbird. As he was regaling me with song, it occurred to me to start counting the different calls. Much to my amazement, the bird went through 167 different sounds that I assume are of other birds or are they?

I looked it up on my computer and I found out that the official state bird of Florida is the mockingbird. Northern Mockingbirds have extraordinary vocal abilities - they can sing up to 200 songs, including the songs of other birds, insect and amphibian sounds, even an occasional mechanical noise. The northern mockingbird is also the state bird of Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi

I am not a bird watcher as you might think. But I have noticed that in my backyard we also have a hummingbird, finches, sparrows, mourning doves and even once in a while an egret. I have on occasions seen a hawk on the other side of the street diving after a dove.

The most beautiful plumage is worn by one frequent visitor: the Altamira oriole

Alta

mira Oriole

SOURCE:http://images.google.com/imgres