Good afternoon,

My reason for this habit is through repeated exposure. After getting
over the malicious stage of many American boys (e.g. when I stopped
noticing birds as targets; particularly house sparrows, house finches,
crows and mourning doves) I recall having my interest perked by the
midnight serenades of the mockingbird (I'm a suburban southern
Californian). Boy do I miss those incessant songsters - thanks to my
polluting habits I look forward to hearing them soon in Seattle ;-)

Then I took an interest in the birds my grandfather would feed. Although
he had no interest in even watching them; he would throw "scratch feed"
up on the tin carport roof, so we would listen to the doves, pigeons and
sparrows drumming on the roof as they fed and grandpa introduced me to
the fine working-class pastime of beer and cheap cigars :-)

Finally, after learning how to blow across the top of a bottle to make a
low whistle, my sister and I figured out how to make a high pitched
whistle with the "cup" from an acorn (you botanists out there could be
more precise...), which I figured out how to imitate by cupping my
hands, which (hang in there) I realized sounded a lot like a mourning
dove. So for the next several years I would harass the local mourning
doves by imitating there calls - boy do they get agitated, I wonder what
I'm saying (it's probably my accent)?

One can also make a fair house finch call with a rambling lip-based
whistle. At least well enough to start an argument (I suppose I always
lost, because after a few minutes I'd get bored and go away, which left
the territory to them).

To sum it up, I got started by interacting with the common suburban
birds.


Michael H. Patrick - Software Engineer
(425) 743-8204
mpatrick at eldec.com