Got a call from a downtown P.G. resident today about a bird singing the past
couple of nights so loudly that it was hard to sleep (*now* I understand the
phrase "to kill a mockingbird", whereby killing a mockingbird as an accepted
idle pastime of youth is an allegory for an equally entrenched acceptance of
racism... but I digress...).

Well, it could only be one thing so Cathy and I went to check it out tonight
and sure enough, there was a Mocker holed up in the crown of a hazelnut preening
and occasionally singing. This was at 2100 hrs. The bird has been around for
about a week according to the locals. During the 30 minutes we were there, it
imitated the following: House Wren, N. Flicker, Am. Kestrel, Dickcissel,
Green-tailed Towhee, Am. Robin, Gr. Yellowlegs, doorbell, telephone, Oregon
Junco contact note, perhaps Pyrrhuloxia, Tufted Titmouse... I'm sure I am
forgetting some. Repertoire smacks of a southwestern US origin for the bird,
with some new ones thrown in that it picked up along the way. Apparently there
may be some birds trying to escape the core of the recent heat wave in the Great
Basin given the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher that was through here last week... or
at least the heat may be exacerbating the trend to post-breeding dispersal.

The bird was really getting tuned up by the time we left so it looks like
another sleepless night for the locals...

- Jack


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Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca