Anne Lurie wrote:

Just you wait, Susan, just you wait! You may rue the day the mockingbird
learned how to meow! I say that because I'm a birder from way back, and one
way I can tell the calls of the "real" birds near me (especially Killdeer)
is that the mockingbird repeats the call more often and *much* louder.

Since the mockingbirds allow me to live in their territory, I have
learned to enjoy them. I actually find our resident pair to be quite
amusing. The people who get irritated seem to be the neighbours who
don't appear to have much appreciation for nature.

I've heard people say that mockingbirds have learned to imitate the
beep-beep of a truck going in reverse -- and that it gets rather annoying
after the first hour or so!

I'm really surprised they haven't learned that since the neighborhood
isn't very old (three years) and parts are still under construction.
They may be new to our area, attracted because of our feeders. No one
else in our immediate area feeds them except for us and they've got a
smorgasbord at our house - suet, black sunflower seed, mixed seed,
safflower seed, thistle seed, fruit and nut special mix along with tons
of bird friendly plants including sunflowers grown just to watch the
goldfinches eat them.

The one "call" of our resident mockingbirds that still makes me laugh
out loud every time I hear it is the car alarm. Funny, because hearing
the real thing just annoys the heck out of me.

Susan
shsimko at duke dot edu