H.J. Ruiz – Avian101

One bird that you commonly see in my backyard is the Northern Mockingbird. It’s funny to see one very often walking along the railing of my deck, from one corner to the other. I  picture it in my mind as a soldier on guard duty on the lookout for enemies. 🙂

Young Northern Mockingbird

Almost daily you can see one Mockingbird doing what I described previously.

These birds are brave! I’ve seen them chasing crows away and  even hawks. They’re are very protective of their territory at times acting fearlessly and aggressively against larger intruders.

Through several seasons I believe I’ve seen several generations of Mockingbirds hatched from nests around my house. I’ve observed their behavior, they have a tendency to act as guardians of our feeders. They do not bother any of the birds that nest locally like finches, cardinals, field sparrows, tufted titmice, brow-headed nuthatches or red-headed woodpeckers. It’s a different story with cowbirds, blackbirds, blue jays and bluebirds.

For a while I thought that they were aggressive by nature but I was wrong, most of them are defending their own or other birds from bigger birds that bully their way around.

I think Mockingbirds are the good guys!

All photos are © H.J. Ruiz – Avian101