The Birds...

The mockingbird has been causing trouble again. The suet was the issue of contention in the backyard because our resident Mockingbird King claimed it and all the surrounding territory. No other birds were allowed near the feeders, even if they only wanted sunflower seed for which the king has no desire. When the mockingbird gave us (or more importantly, the birds) trouble last time I moved a small suet feeder to the front yard for his convenience. Yesterday I was moving a suet cake over to the bird feeder in the front yard when something interesting caught my eye. That's how I found this:


Nestled in the crook of one of our Bradford pear trees was a nest constructed of twigs and leaves. I was curious what type of bird had put this nest here so I moved a little closer to see if I could catch a glimpse of its inhabitants.


I had to position my arm with the camera above the nest in order to see inside. Due to this method of picture taking my accuracy was very limited! In the next shot I was able to capture a glimpse of the eggs. I readjusted my camera again and made another attempt.


I managed a clearer shot this time. If you look closely you can see the bluish colored eggs with brown speckles. What kind of bird lays these speckled eggs?

A mocking bird of course! The mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is Tennessee's state bird. Here's a cropped shot of the nest. Check out the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Animal Diversity Web page for some great information on the mockingbird.

Maybe all the mockingbird king wanted was room service!