TWIL: Gary's favorite bird

All this month I have been awakened by birdsong from the bush outside my window. It sounds like the Bird United Nations. The representative from Species A will trill, then Species B responds with a chirp, then there's a warble, then a cackly rat-a-tat barrage.

"That's so weird," I thought, "It sounds like they're conversing. Usually birds don't worry about interrupting each other."

Later that day I saw Gary watching the flocks of birds on the patio. 

I said, "I heard the birds do the weirdest thing this morn --"

"LOOK AT THAT BIRD THAT'S MY FAVORITE BIRD WITH THE WHITE PATTERN ON ITS WINGS AND TAIL."

Per the bird guide, Gary's favorite bird turns out to be a mockingbird, and what I'd heard that morning was a mockingbird talking to itself.

Wikipedia starts off its entry on mockingbirds this way: "Studies have shown the ability of some species to identify individual humans and treat them differently based on learned threat assessments."

So I suspect that the converse is true, and they will identify Gary as a) not a threat, and then b) their best friend. Then they will begin to mimic him and I will wake up one day to: "ELLEN THIS IS GARY COMING TO YOU FROM THE BUSH OUTSIDE THE WINDOW AND YOU SHOULD GO BUY SOME SUET AND PUT IT ON THE PATIO RIGHT NOW."

Comments

[KC]

... that would be hilarious to teach to a mockingbird, tbh. Better than Polly Want a Cracker.

[TheQueen]

KC - I think I read that they can mimic dog barks and car alarms, though I can’t think of any evolutionary reason for it.

[KC]

I would expect it is the ability to mimic any sound they hear enough - predator, prey, tree falling, whatever - that gives them advantages (impress the ladies! also possibly confuse the predators!) and then humans came and the sounds got... weird. But who knows?

[theQueen]

KC - Well, you are right, impress the ladies = evolution.