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The Mimics of Bird World Are Back In Town

Photo Tom Hodgson. Brown thrasher.
Photo Tom Hodgson. Brown thrasher.

(Chelsea Update would like to thank Tom Hodgson and the Waterloo Natural History Association for the information and photos in this column.)

Each species of songbird has its own unique song that can be recognized by others of its kind.

This enables individuals of the species to find each other amid the cacophony of sounds associated with the spring season. It also enables bird watchers to identify birds without having to see them. And, this is an extremely valuable time saver as it makes it unnecessary to track down every bird and make a visual identification.

However, there is a group of birds that is not satisfied with just having their own song. They would rather incorporate the songs of other species as well.

Photo by Tom Hodgson. Northern mockingbird.
Photo by Tom Hodgson. Northern mockingbird.

This family of birds has been named the “Mimidae” by ornithologists. In our area it includes the gray catbird, the brown thrasher and the northern mockingbird.   All three are in the process of returning from their wintering grounds and are now singing as they establish nesting territories. All like to hide in dense shrubbery and often feed by scratching through leaf litter on the ground.

Gray catbird
The gray catbird is well named as it is mostly gray with a small black head cap and a brown rump patch. It will imitate other birds, tree frogs and sometimes noise made by machinery. It only repeats each phrase once before moving on to a different sound. It also intersperses these.

Brown thrasher
The brown thrasher gets its name from its reddish-brown color and its habit of “thrashing” noisily through the litter on the ground in search of food. This bird may be the best mimic of the group and is credited with having over 1,000 phrases in its repertoire. Each phrase is usually repeated twice before moving on to the next. The thrasher does not make cat-like noises.

To hear a brown thrasher click here.

Northern mockingbird
The Northern mockingbird is actually more common in the Southern U.S., but is being seen more frequently in Michigan as the climate continues to warm.  It is mostly gray above and white or light gray underneath with white wing patches that are very distinct in flight. This bird usually sings each phrase three times before moving on.

Some of the sounds mockingbirds imitate include Carolina wren, northern cardinal, tufted titmouse, eastern towhee, house sparrow, wood thrush,  eastern bluebirdnorthern flicker, great crested flycatcher and the American robin. To hear a Northern Mockingbird click here.

The singing of the mockingbird has inspired the book title To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and several songs including “Hush Little Baby,” “Listen to the Mockingbird” and “Mockingbird Hill.”

Photo by Tom Hodgson. Gray catbird.
Photo by Tom Hodgson. Gray catbird.
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