Dawn washes slowly across the Crow Valley Campground in northeast Colorado. Soon the morning quiet is shattered by a symphony of bird song. Listening carefully, one can hear snippets of meadowlark, blackbird, sparrow, warbler and at least a dozen more songbirds. The singing continues for nearly an hour, interrupted only by brief pauses. What sounds like a chorus of birds is actually a single crooner serenading from the top of a cottonwood tree.
Superficially he is an ordinary bird: Gray like a pigeon but less colorful, medium-sized like a thrush but less handsome, long-tailed like a magpie but less spectacular, he is rather pedestrian. But when it comes to showmanship, he is awesome. His scientific and common names attest to his stunning pageantry.
He is a northern mockingbird, known among scientists as Mimus polyglottos. His generic name translates from Latin to “mimic” and his specific name derives from the ancient Greek word polyglottos meaning “many-tongued.” On this crisp, clear May morning, I am treated to a many-tongued melody. If I lived in an urban area, I might also hear the hum of a motor, the creak of a door or toot of a horn. If I lived more rurally I might hear the bark of a dog, the mew of a cat or the croak of a frog. But mostly mockingbirds mimic the songs of other birds to create a melody that is uniquely their own.
This is an excerpt from the March/April 2018 issue of Colorado Outdoors. Click Mar-Apr 2017-Mockingbirds to see the whole article by Bruce Gill.
