Imitation is the sincerest form of mockery

Meeting the neighborhood mimids

Welcome to Owl My Children, a monthly newsletter where I recount a fun bird moment from the past month and wonder if it’s possible to train a mockingbird to sing “Uptown Girl.”

Several months ago, my friend Rachel asked me if I’d ever written a newsletter about mockingbirds. She lives in NYC, where a friendly neighborhood mockingbird likes to imitate car alarms from the roof of her apartment building. I admitted that I had not done a newsletter about mockingbirds because I didn’t have much experience with them—living in Madison, WI means that you don’t get to see mockingbirds on a regular basis. Even though the species of mockingbird we see in the US is called the “northern mockingbird,” they’re uncommon in the northern Midwest. (Check out the range map here.)

Mockingbirds show up in Madison maybe once or twice a year and stay for a day or two, but in the four years I was birding there, I never saw one. I admit, I didn’t try very hard. I never felt the need to track one down because if I really wanted to see one, I could do so at my in-laws’ house in Durham, NC, where mockingbirds are a dime a dozen.

“HOW DARE YOU NOT APPRECIATE ME.” - Northern mockingbird in NC. Photo by me.

Now that I live in Pittsburgh, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing mockingbirds much more often. I’ve started to learn a little bit about their favorite haunts, including the Homewood Cemetery, where Michael and I have spent many evenings this fall going for after-work strolls. It’s a great cemetery; I’ve heard that lots of people in Pittsburgh are dying to go there. (That’s a Michael joke for you.)

I love birding in cemeteries. They might not have the same diversity of species as a wildlife preserve, due to all the open grass, but there are still plenty of birds and other creatures (groundhogs, mostly) that thrive there. Plus, the paths are paved, which is good for my bad knee, and the open skies are great for visibility. Other perks of city cemeteries include 1) wide paths, so mountain bikers can’t run you over, 2) no off-leash dogs that want to jump on your camera, 3) easy parking, and often close proximity to bus stops, and 4) no loud parties/barbecues/children etc. that might scare away birds. The Madison chapter of the Feminist Bird Club always does their Christmas Bird Count at the Forest Hill Cemetery, which is always a fun (and productive!) outing, often involving a great-horned owl or two as well as the possibility of white-winged crossbills or pine siskins.

Here in Pittsburgh, Homewood Cemetery has some unique habitat features. It’s up on a ridge and gives good views of passing raptors; there are brush piles and mulch pits (which attract various sparrows and finches); and there’s even a marshy pond where red-winged blackbirds like to gather. It’s also a nationally credited arboretum, which means it has a great diversity of trees, including pines, which can be hard to find elsewhere in the city.

It also has lots of scrubby, low-to-medium-height bushes and trees, which basically serve as podiums for the mockingbirds. They love perching on/preaching from those things. The relative quiet of the cemetery also seems to amplify their songs, which is exactly what mockingbirds want. They haven’t gotten the memo that you’re supposed to be respectful when you’re in a cemetery.

A northern mockingbird making fun of someone in a cemetery. Photo by me.

Meet the mimids

The scientific name for the northern mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, means “many-tongued mimic.” They’re in the family Mimidae, which in Pennsylvania includes brown thrashers and gray catbirds, both of whom are equally obnoxious in cemeteries.

Quick facts about the northern mockingbird

• Male northern mockingbirds are known to sing up to 200 different phrases (females sing, too, just not as much).

• They often repeat the same phrases many times, giving you the chance to say, “Oh wow, he’s doing a cardinal,” “oh wow, he’s doing a titmouse,” “oh wow, he’s doing a cardinal again.”

• They are super territorial, especially in the spring. If you see a flash of white wings heading directly for your face, run away!

• They don’t seem to be afraid of people. They usually seem more disdainful/annoyed than afraid.

• I often find mockingbirds just by their sheer VOLUME. They are so loud.

A Homewood Cemetery mockingbird. You can hear me in the background exclaiming over his red-bellied woodpecker impression. This bird did a lot of Carolina wren calls and could even do the northern flicker’s “wick-a” sound. Notice the scrubby medium-height tree, perfect for performing. (Cell phone video by Michael)

Quick facts about the brown thrasher

• Brown thrashers can be loud, too. They can do over 1,100 songs.

• They are known for singing doublets (or as the Cornell Lab suggests, “Plant a seed, plant a seed, bury it, bury it, cover it up, cover it up, let it grow, let it grow, pull it up, pull it up, eat it, eat it,” which is the most hilarious mnemonic I have ever heard). Unlike the northern mockingbird, they don’t usually go back and repeat any of their doublets.

• They are sneaky and hide in thickets, and if they see you, they might stop singing and disappear into the undergrowth.

• Anecdotally, I often hear brown thrashers making a cartoon “awooga awooga” sound and kissy noises. They seem to enjoy slapstick humor. Brown thrashers are basically Jim Carrey.

A brown thrasher who does not appreciate being compared to Jim Carrey. Photo by me.

Quick facts about the gray catbird

• A performance by a gray catbird can last up to 10 minutes.

• They like to improvise and riff on the songs they sing.

• They remind me of my cat Nina, for a number of reasons: 1) Gray + floof. 2) Inquisitive. 3) Strangely interested in water. 4) They meow, which is helpful when it comes to identifying them.

Here’s a gray catbird that doesn’t NOT look like my cat Nina. Photo by me.

Similarities between mimids

• All three mimids described above have been reported to do car alarm sounds.

• They love thickets.

• They’re not super common visitors at bird feeders. Mockingbirds and catbirds both supposedly enjoy raisins that have been soaked in water. Mockingbirds and thrashers occasionally enjoy suet.

Why do mockingbirds mock?

As far as we know, mockingbirds and other mimids don’t intend to be cruel when they mock us (but I still love this TikTok anyway). No one can really say for sure why mockingbirds do what they do. It’s assumed that males are trying to impress mates with their very large repertoire of songs. (But then why do the females sing?) Some think their songs are intended to establish and/or defend their territories.

Elon University (shoutout NC!) biology professor Dave Gammon studies mockingbirds. In one study, he wanted to learn why mockingbirds don’t imitate ALL birds but only a select few. He found that mockingbirds essentially have a preferred acoustic range, and they will only imitate birdsong that falls within that range and follows a similar rhythm. Too low-pitched and a mockingbird can’t pull it off. Too fast and they don’t even bother. Gammon found that mockingbirds most often imitate Carolina wrens, tufted titmice, blue jays, northern cardinals, and eastern bluebirds. They never imitate mourning doves.

We also don’t know who teaches mockingbirds their songs. Do they learn from their parents, or from the source of the song itself? And why the obsession with cars and car alarms?

Also fascinating is that mockingbirds have different repertoires that they use in the spring and the fall. One belief is that the spring setlist is for wow-ing the ladies, while the fall setlist is purely for defending territories.

Other things we don’t understand about mockingbirds:

• They sometimes sing at night. The primary offenders here are unmated males. Scientists think this gives the lonely fellows the opportunity to have a standout solo performance: no distractions, no daytime noise. Also, mockingbirds seem to prefer singing at night when there’s a full moon. Perhaps they think the moon creates a nice spotlight?

• One study found that mockingbirds can mimic at least 12 species of frogs/toads. Some people think that mockingbirds use environmental, non-avian sounds (such as frog song or car alarms) to seem more impressive, especially if a competitor nearby is ONLY doing bird sounds. The frog-mimickers are essentially saying, “See? That guy doesn’t have the range.”

• Not a ton of research has been done on their migratory patterns. Some mockingbirds may fly slightly farther south for the winter, but others stay in the same territories with their mates year-round. I still don’t know for sure what the Homewood Cemetery mockingbirds will do this winter, but I will be eager to find out.

Here’s a very proud northern mockingbird, spotted on a trip to Florida last winter. Photo by me.

Can a mockingbird learn human speech?

As Michael and I watched that mockingbird at the cemetery doing lots of different songs, it occurred to us that we might be able to feed the mockingbird some sound bytes. Maybe we could train it to say our names. Maybe we could teach it to sing “Uptown Girl.” We had this idea that, if we went to the cemetery every day and said the same phrases over and over, then eventually the mockingbird would pick up those phrases and sing them back to us whenever we visited, mockingjay-from-The-Hunger-Games-style.

So I did some research. And I learned: Probably not possible!

In another of Dave Gammon’s mockingbird studies, Gammon put a bunch of speakers around Elon’s campus and blasted computer-generated and/or non-native birdsong for two hours each day. He did this for six months and observed the local mockingbirds’ reactions.

The mockingbirds—all of which were adults—REFUSED to imitate any of it.

Maybe they couldn’t learn the songs. Or maybe they were deeply intelligent and didn’t sing those songs just to spite Gammon, who probably irritated the crap out of them on a daily basis. We don’t know for sure. The study led Gammon to hypothesize that perhaps adult mockingbirds do not learn new songs; maybe most of their repertoire is picked up sometime in their early lives.

Some scientists are still skeptical, arguing that mockingbirds might need to SEE the actual bird performing the song in order to mimc it. Or maybe they were not motivated to copy the songs coming out of a speaker.

So perhaps the real question brought about by Gammon’s study is one of MOTIVATION rather than ABILITY.

And guess who studies motivation?

My husband Michael, the social psychologist!!!

Interview with a motivation expert

Me: Why do you think the mockingbirds at Elon were not motivated to copy the songs from Gammon’s speakers?

Michael: I don’t study birds!

Me: But if you did study birds, what would you say about the mockingbirds who refused to copy any of Gammon’s songs?

Michael: [hemming and hawing] Maybe the mockingbirds just didn’t like the songs?

It turns out a social psychologist might not be able to read the mind of a mockingbird. Nor can a biologist—or any other human, really. When Dave Gammon was interviewed by the Cornell Lab about his study, he said, “I envy those social scientists. They can say to their subjects, ‘Write your name here and answer my questions. Oh, and write your answers in English.’”

Until the mockingbirds start teaching each other human language, we’ll never know for sure what’s going on in their heads.

I leave you with a Youtube video featuring a very talented mockingbird that does a car alarm, among other wonderful sounds. And here is an audio clip of Rachel’s mockingbird, who seems very inspired by the city soundscape. (Thank you, Rachel!)

Plant a seed, plant a seed, bury it, bury it,

Holly