Just As Happy As A Songbird

  In spite of the heavy fog shrouding the Bayou, my morning started with garden work.  It seems that the gnats are late sleepers so weeding was a lot nicer without their presence.  I was not alone in the garden, however, as I had one sweet friend keeping me company.  A male mockingbird sat on the tiptop of the black gum tree that grows by the garden fence.  The bird was not only keeping me company but entertaining me, as well.  A never-ending melody wafted down from the treetop!  Once the fog cleared, I could see my fine feathered friend raising his song to the world.

  The bird singing got me to thinking of how most folks think that mockingbirds sing merely because they are happy.  Well, think again, folks.  Male mockingbirds also sing as a way of claiming territory.  More oft than not, if you hear a mockingbird singing loudly and nonstop during the daytime hours, it is a male. They are warning any interlopers well ahead of time that if they cross into the area, a battle will ensue. Somewhere nearby, the mockingbird's ladylove is nesting and he is not about to let some young whippersnapper intrude on family business.   Then, there are those mockingbirds that sing nonstop at night.  Those, usually, are "bachelors".  Young males sing to attract females.  So, the ones that cause you to lose sleep are generally restless males out on the town trying to find a girlfriend.

  My friend, Papa Mockingbird, sang his heart out all day long.  Then just at dusk, the garden was quiet again.  Far off in the distance, down towards the pier, I could hear a youngster starting his serenading.  The singing is nonstop between the two of them with others singing down near the creek (both day and night).  Add their singing to the cacophony from the Frog Pond and the Bayou is one loud place....both day and night.  How nice it is to leave the windows open to be serenaded constantly.  Yep, love is in the air.