© Loree Griffin Burns
Did you know that there are birds that sing at night? Me either. But last night I slipped into bed beside my open bedroom window, hoping to hear some frogs, and instead heard a bird. Singing. Incessantly. At 11:30pm!
I listened for a good twenty minutes, head pressed up against the screen, ears stretching out into the front yard. I tried to describe the singing in my notebook, so that I could look into the strangeness come morning, but it seemed there were six (or more?) distinct calls/songs. They all came from the same direction, and I had the feeling it was a single (confused?) bird.
Eventually I fell asleep, and this morning I asked Google who might have been singing outside my window last night. The answer: a Northern Mockingbird.
I’d be tempted to do something silly, like head out tonight and capture some audio for you, but I’m off to the New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference for the weekend. You’ll have to use your imagination. Or check out this treasure trove of Northern Mockingbird information from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (including audio and video!). Or, if you’re feeling crazy, stay up late, step out onto your front porch, and listen. Mockingbirds are found pretty much everywhere in the United States … maybe there’s one looking for love outside your window, too?
Happy weekend!