Lonesome George, our resident mockingbird, has been flinging himself in the air and singing through his entire repertoire, trying to attract a mate. No luck so far. Here is a 30 second video of his mating "dance" : Since he starts this at about 6 a.m. and continues off and on through the day, we sincerely hope he finds a girlfriend ASAP!
Poor George. I really hope he finds a mate soon before he tires himself out. Surely the show he puts on and his singing will attract some females to his neck of the woods.
Mocking birds really do "mock". They pick up noises they hear and repeat them--great little mimics! Our smoke alarm went off, and we thought it was due for a new battery, which we installed. A day later it went off again--beeep, beeep, beeep in the shrillest (and most irritating) tone you can imagine. The detector is faulty, and we'll replace it. However, when it was beeping and hurting our eardrums, we said jokingly, "Gosh, I hope George doesn't hear that!" An hour later we heard beeep, beeep, beeep from a tree outside. George had heard . . . .
Our starlings do that too Jane. They pick up on mobile 'phones, car alarms and other birds calls. I was sure I heard a curlew the other day in the garden and peered out to see a starling sitting on the fence singing his heart out.
