Date: 7/15/25 12:09 pm From: Robert Day <rhday52...> Subject: Re: Mockingbird behavior
Glenn:
This is a fascinating scene, that's for sure.
I doubt that the mockingbird was actually mocking the flycatcher but
instead suggest that the sight of the flycatcher caused the mockingbird to
start imitating it; I don't know for certain, but that would be my guess.
Doing, so would require that the mockingbird already have experience with
the sight and song of the flycatcher--not a far-fetched requirement in
Arkansas, given the overlap in range and habitat.
Mockingbirds are, of course, famous for imitating lots of things. I
remember reading decades ago that a high-school football game had to be
called because a mockingbird set up shop near the game and kept imitating
the referee's whistle, thereby stopping the play when the ref had not
called for it to be stopped. Apparently, it was havoc on the field. We also
have had a mockingbird in past years set up shop on a neighbor's roof and
start imitating a nearby cardinal's call. Our lives are lessened because it
didn't return last year.
Massively cool birds.
Bob Day
SW Bentonville
cell: 907-460-7061; <rhday52...>
On Tue, Jul 15, 2025 at 10:38 AM Glenn <
<000001214b3fcb01-dmarc-request...> wrote:
> A couple mornings ago, my wife and I were sitting on our front porch
> reading the bible. We were also listening to a mockingbird singing at the
> top of our neighbor's Bradford Pear tree. From our left a Scissor-tailed
> Flycatcher flew into the picture. As it got close to the mockingbird, the
> mockingbird changed his song and starting doing a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
> call, something he had not done earlier. Once the flycatcher flew off the
> mockingbird changed back to what he was doing and never repeated the
> Scissor-tailed Flycatcher call again, at least for the 10 minutes or so we
> stayed out there before heading back inside. Now I am wondering, did the
> mockingbird see the flycatcher and so started mocking it? Or was it a
> coincidence? Has anybody ever seen a mockingbird deliberately start using
> another bird's call when that type of bird flew into the area? I've never
> noticed that before.
>
> -Glenn Wyatt
>
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