Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Q A mockingbird is singing right outside my window all night long. He doesn't stop!
Short of changing the front yard landscape, what do I need to do to shut him up, at
least until sunrise?
A
Mockingbirds who sing all night long tend to be young, still-unattached males or older
males who have lost their mate, so the best way to quiet him is to entice a female mock-
ingbird to your yard, too. He's already doing his best to accomplish this, though to the
disappointment of both of you, he's not yet succeeded. The singing will end on its own,
usually within a few days or weeks.
Strategies for dealing with the problem for the duration include shutting the sound out
of your house, by either closing windows or using ear plugs, or sending him elsewhere.
If you can pinpoint the tree he's singing from, you might place nylon window screen fab-
ric or a fabric with a similar weave atop the tree to discourage him from perching there.
Using bird netting risks entangling him and other birds.
The situation brings to mind Robert Frost's poem, “A Minor Bird”:
I have wished a bird would fly away,
And not sing by my house all day;
Have clapped my hands at him from the door
When it seemed as if I could bear no more.
The fault must partly have been in me.
The bird was not to blame for his key.
And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song.
You might want to substitute for the final two lines:
But of course there must be something right
About getting a decent sleep at night.
ThemockingbirdwasThomasJefferson'sfavoritebird.Hewrotealotaboutitsamazing
mimicry abilities and songs, and how England had nothing to compare with it, in his
Notes on the State of Virginia.
He also had a pet mockingbird named Dick who lived in
the White House.
