Mockingbird Chicks

In the spring of 2004, a mockingbird couple built their nest in the guava tree outside our laundry room window. So we've been able to watch the two chicks as they grew up.

Photography was spotty. The parents are very protective of the chicks, and don't like people hanging around with cameras while the chicks are being fed. Most shots are through windows or, worse, window screens.

In 2008, a trio of young mockers fledged from a nest in someone else's yard and decided to use our yard as their kindergarten. I named them after the three trees where they rested after their first flights: Oak, Cedar and Holly.

Oak in particular took a liking to our backyard, and particularly the lawn. It seems he wants to be a quail when he grows up: he loves to run (not hop) around the yard, and flies only when threatened (though once he gets going, he flies quite competently). When he's not being a quail he practices being a wren, cocking his tail up like wrens do.

Cedar likes the backyard too, but stays above ground in the chinquapin or the orange tree. In the evenings, they sing a duet, somewhat lower EEPs from Cedar and higher ones from Oak (Oak can sing two notes, but when Cedar's singing Oak takes the soprano line). Holly remains in the front yard.

Here are two pictures of Oak doing his wren thing: