We have had a mystery here the past two weeks.

We keep hearing a hawk. We go out onto the deck and
there is no hawk circling overhead. But we still hear it.
From the fir tree.

Then we heard a seagull. They usually like to eat the
cherries but there are no cherries out now. And no
seagull to be seen. Just a seagull call coming from
the fir tree.

Then we hear a frog. But the frog should be
in the bog if he is calling and there is no frog
in the bog. The frog call is coming from the fir
tree.

So youngest son and I decided to stake out the
fir tree. We watched it for half an hour. The only
birds in the tree were the magpies, who are building
a nest, and four starlings.

Hmmmmmm.
I've actually heard and seen a mocking bird when
we visited the U of Tennessee. This particular mocking
bird liked to mimic a car alarm at 5am outside our
window.

But we don't have mocking birds here so could it
be the starlings?
Went to our big book of birds and sure enough
the book reports that male starlings are good
mimics.

So that explains the zoo in our fir tree.


k30a