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The kids were out, Mr TBTAM was downstairs grading final exams, and I figured I was going to be spending a rainy Friday evening alone in my room. Turns out I had wonderful company till sunset.
Any bird lovers out there who can tell me what kind of bird my garden guest was? (You can’t see the bird in this video – but I was hoping someone knew bird calls and could figure it out that way…)
I wish I could see him (her?) better, no idea what you've got there.
I've learned to identify a lot of birds since moving to Cape Cod but it's partly because I keep a Sibley's Guide handy. If you don't have one, I recommend it. It's too large to be a good field guide but it's an excellent reference to have at home.
I can't find the bird at all (probably because I use a fairly small laptop screen). What does it look like?
(When in doubt, it's an LBJ–Little Brown Jobber.)
Do you know about the Cornell University Ornithology site? It's amazing, and might be helpful to you.
sounds a lot like city car alarms, mockingbird?
I would be really happy to help you but I have no idea (after having seen the video at least more than ten times I guess). Hope anyone can tell you!
Your Blog is really cool and interesting! Continue please!!
Eva from Hauptstadtreisen
Definitely a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). The multiple repetitions of each song and periodic rotation are characteristic of mockingbirds. There are two other members of the Mimidae often found on the East Coast. The Brown Thrasher is a retiring country bird which is unlikely to be found in the city or even the suburbs, and it tends to repeat its songs once or twice. The Grey Catbird has a rapid-fire chorus of single notes that are often sharp or slightly buzzy; it's call sounds somewhat like a cat mewing, hence the name. Catbirds sound to me like they are having animated conversations with themselves.
Oops, that's supposed to be its, not it's. I really do know grammar, I swear.
Horsetech –
Thanks so much! I had a feeling it was a mockingbird, and anonymous up there is right about the car alarm quality.
Wierdly, it's been starting to sing lately at MIDNIGHT, forcing me to close the doors and windows so I can get some sleep. A mockingbird with insomnia?
Gah! I hate it when they do that! When I lived in the dorm my freshman year of college, there was a mockingbird right outside my window that loved to serenade me in the wee hours of the morning. Of course, being on a busy college campus with few other birds around, it usually imitated sirens, car alarms, and car horns.