Bahama Mockingbird, Abaco – Bruce Hallett
BAHAMA MOCKINGBIRD NEST, CHICKS & FLEDGING VIDEO
I tend not to reblog other people’s posts wholesale. For a start, there can be compatibility issues that are tiresome to sort out. Often, they will include material – interesting in its own right – that is applicable to that blog but not to this one… Or it might be inappropriate to add other useful info or images. Sometimes, though, a post is perfect. This is one such time. I have recently started to follow Dominique’s blog WANDER IN NATURE, having come across her post about the Bahama Mockingbird Mimus gundlachii. The Baha Mocker is on the ‘wants list’ of any birder on Abaco. I have never seen a photo of a nest or chick before, far less seen either in real life. So here they are, not on Abaco but only a mockingbird’s flight away!
BAHAMA MOCKINGBIRD TAKES FLIGHT
JUNE 2014 Sometime in the transition between Spring and Summer, I stumbled across a bird’s nest wedged in the top corner of the rose garden. After a much needed boost, I peered in and discovered the bobbing beaks of three little nestlings, so fragile and still without their feathers.
Over the next few days, I hoped to follow their growth and capture them during feeding time with their two parents that had clearly made their presence known. One of the young birds appeared to take over the nest for a while, and eventually took flight into the big wide world.
The whole story is here… there’s a great deal of action at this nest!
Here are two recordings of the beautiful song of this bird that I made 18 months ago a short way down a logging track in the pine forest south of Crossing Rocks (before the Y). Note the repetition of particular phrases before the bird moves on to the next sound in its extensive repertoire.
RELATED POSTS
BAHAMA MOCKINGBIRD ‘Making a good impression…’
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD ‘Taking off…’ (Mimicry)
Credits: Header image, Bruce Hallett; all other images and video, Dominique @ Wander in Nature
