And if that mockingbird don't sing... good.
In the spring and summer in So Cal, we have the phenomenon of mockingbirds. These are birds that, in order to attract a mate, inexplicably imitate the songs of every other bird they've ever heard. (This always makes me think that if a mate does show up, she'll go "Wait, you're not a blue jay!" and leave immediately. Bait and switch, no truth in advertising, you know? It seems like the bird equivalent of using a 20-year-old, 40-pounds-ago picture of yourself on a dating site.)
Whatever its effectiveness, the mockingbirds are VERY devoted to this practice. They do it day and night. ALL night. Four-in-the-morning night. And they do it outside your window, at 5 times the volume of any other bird you've ever encountered.
They cannot be dissuaded. Your few options are to go crazy, buy a BB gun, or amuse yourself.
I'm trying to get the one in my backyard to imitate the TiVo.
I open the windows, turn my bedroom TV's volume up to a million, and start going back and forth between menus ("bloo-BLOOP. BLOO-bloop.") And I swear to God, the thing'll get quiet for a few moments, and the next sound you hear out of it could maybe be construed as an attempt to imitate - it's two notes, but the rhythm's not right, or else it doesn't have the tonal change… But then, they're not parrots - they may not have the capacity to get too exact. Anything they do still sounds like birdsong. But still, it's a pretty easy "song" to try and copy… Anyway, a few moments later it seems to give up and goes back to its usual repertoire. But for those few moments…
It will learn. It better. Or I'm buying the BB gun.
Whatever its effectiveness, the mockingbirds are VERY devoted to this practice. They do it day and night. ALL night. Four-in-the-morning night. And they do it outside your window, at 5 times the volume of any other bird you've ever encountered.
They cannot be dissuaded. Your few options are to go crazy, buy a BB gun, or amuse yourself.
I'm trying to get the one in my backyard to imitate the TiVo.
I open the windows, turn my bedroom TV's volume up to a million, and start going back and forth between menus ("bloo-BLOOP. BLOO-bloop.") And I swear to God, the thing'll get quiet for a few moments, and the next sound you hear out of it could maybe be construed as an attempt to imitate - it's two notes, but the rhythm's not right, or else it doesn't have the tonal change… But then, they're not parrots - they may not have the capacity to get too exact. Anything they do still sounds like birdsong. But still, it's a pretty easy "song" to try and copy… Anyway, a few moments later it seems to give up and goes back to its usual repertoire. But for those few moments…
It will learn. It better. Or I'm buying the BB gun.