May Day's early evening haze—sign of summer breath-to-be—carries a mockingbird chorale over Austin, Texas. The male has chosen to sing again from the topmost branch of a mulberry tree. He shouts both day and night from his special perch in the city heart. Below him, three well-grown youngsters squeak hoarsely, begging for food. Sometimes the mocker will carry them a beetle or moth. At other times he will bring a mulberry or peck deeply into a nearby loquat, yellowed to sweet plumpness. Without a prolonged spell of cold weather these plants have flourished and are loaded with glowing fruit. Neighborhood squirrels, which the mocker chases fiercely, feast on them, too.
The parents have delivered the young safely. Their progeny left the nest six days ago and already demonstrate typical poise and alertness. They are beginning to look like the adults except for stubby tails and the need to balance more expertly on breeze-driven limbs. The young birds teeter ominously on such exposed branches, but so far cats have failed to pounce on an individual fluttering on the ground.
High above, dark swifts paint the blue sky in feather parabolas. They have been here a month and have sorted out squabbles over chimney nest sites. At the end of the block Cedar Waxwings, out of range of the mockingbird, are gobbling loquats. They have been around longer, for much of the winter, and are heading north. By the time they mate and nest, the mockingbird pair may well be into its third brood. Then, it will be hot in central Texas. Now, spring shows off new things. The neighborhood is brimful of the mocker's chant. Life is fulfilled. He is the spirit of ebullience in us all—a symbol of renewal.
Such dramas occur repeatedly throughout the mockingbird's range. America's so-called national songbird floods much of the country's springtime with joyful sound. Its song demands our attention. We enjoy its companionship. We admire the resourcefulness and determination by which parent birds drive away cats, jays, and similar intruders from a nesting territory. Such a melodious voice and strong attachments to home mark out this bird. Poets, novelists, and nature writers celebrate its spirit of indomitability, casting the mockingbird as the embodimcnt of the South, the bird's stronghold, where warm, scented airs quaver to the tumult of the "King of Song." They admire the bird's practice of singing at night and its ability to imitate other species. What the mockingbird lacks in color, it gains in shape, poise, sound, and interesting habits.
This book examines these fascinating characteristics. It discusses the Northern Mockingbird's life history and distribution, and how, unlike so many other species, in recent decades this bird has pioneered new range in North America. The mockingbird prospers biologically and captures our hearts. By declaring it the official state bird of five states, Americans have demonstrated just how special this songbird is, spinning myths about its boldness, intelligence, and vocal dexterity. This book details the strength of our very special bond with an animal that adds zest to our lives.
The term "mockingbird" applies to fourteen of the thirty-two or so species of the Mimidae family of "Mimic-Thrushes," named after their abilities to imitate the sounds of other birds. The Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, belongs to the ten-member genus Mimus within this family. Mimus is Latin for "mimic," and is derived from the Greek word mimos, or "imitator." This polyglot, or "many-tongued mimic," is the northernmost and one of the most widespread and best known of all mockingbirds.
Avian systematists have usually placed the mockingbird close to the wrens and thrushes. New biochemical studies using a DNA hybridization technique reveal that mockingbirds and thrashers are more closely related to Old World starlings than to any other living taxon. Yale University researchers Charles G. Sibley and Jon E. Ahlquist conclude that the Mimidae family, which also includes the well-known Gray Catbird and Brown Thrasher, may have evolved from a common starling-type ancestor twenty-three to twenty-eight million years ago.
All mimid species are found in the Americas, ranging from southern Canada to Argentina and Chile. Ten species, including Mimus polyglottos, live mostly north of Mexico. At the other end of the New World, the Patagonian Mockingbird (M. patagonicus) inhabits the open, exposed south lands of Tierra del Fuego. Two or three other mockingbirds have made their home in the balmier climes of Caribbean islands. One of these, the Bahama Mockingbird (M. gundlachii), has turned up on the Florida Keys.
Another mockingbird, Neosomimus trifasciatus, is restricted to the Galapagos Islands. Ornithologists debate whether the three or four mockers on different places in that archipelago are races or separate species of the Galapagos Mockingbird; or, in fact, whether they are closely related to the Long-tailed Mockingbird (M. longicaudatus) of the South American mainland, and therefore, should be included in the genus Mimus. Of historical interest is the work by Frank J. Sulloway indicating that it was the Galapagos Mockingbirds, not Galapagos finches, that were important in Charles Darwin's thinking about the theory of evolution.
The "Mimic-Thrushes" are noted for their long tails and rounded or fairly short wings, which enable them to pivot and maneuver in dense foliage close to the ground. Some of them, particularly thrashers, tend to run more than fly and give the impression of being rather shy. Most merge with the background because they are nondescript in color, tending to gray, brown, or gray-brown. Some have streaked or spotted breasts with white patches on the wings or tail; and all of them possess relatively long, downcurved bills with which they forage in the leaf litter after insects, seeds, and berries.
The Northern Mockingbird, similar in size to the American Robin, shows pale gray to white underparts and buffy gray to gray upperparts with white wing patches that flash conspicuously in flight. Its long, slender tail sports white outer feathers. Superficially, the mocker resembles the slightly smaller Loggerhead Shrike, which has a black facial mask. The shrike, however, flies with fast wingbeats in a more direct, less undulating manner than the mockingbird, and shows less white on the wings.
What the mockingbird family lacks in coloration is certainly made up for by the strong, varied song of many members. The Northern Mockingbird, in particular, is one of the most appreciated of all American songbirds. Living up to its Latin name, it imitates the calls and songs of other birds with remarkable precision. The versatility, consistency, and volume of its voice capture our attention. Its boldness and a confiding nature around people, evidenced by a liking for gardens, parks, and suburban areas, increase our admiration and respect.
The famous Swedish taxonomist Karl von Linné (Linnaeus), founder of the binomial system of plant and animal classification, named the Northern Mockingbird Turdus polyglottos, placing it among the thrushes from information supplied to him by an English gentleman of leisure, Mark Catesby (16831749). Lauded by historian Elsa G. Allen as the "first real naturalist in America," Catesby made two visits to the American colonies between 1712 and 1726 from which he compiled a two-volume Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Babama Islands (1731), consisting of 220 plates of 109 bird species. By the time of Catesby's visits, the initial awe felt by Europeans confronted with the plethora of New World plants and animals had given way to curiosity and resource-minded pragmatism. Such realism is reflected in Catesby's accurate illustrations of New World plants and animals.
In his first volume, the naturalist furnished more than 100 plates of North American birds, one of which (Plate 27) showed "The Mock-Bird, Turdus minor cinereo albus non maculatus," or the gray-white, non-streaked small thrush, posed alertly on a branch of flowering dogwood. Although Mark Catesby provided details about fewer than 25 percent of eastern U.S. bird species, the ones he did note, such as the "mockbird," were precise and of high quality. Linnaeus was indebted to Catesby, who naturally applied many of the common names of English birds to species in America that resembled them, as with the superficial resemblance of the mockingbird to a thrush.
