Mockingbirds always strike me as bold and defiant, often perching in the highest point of a tree or bush and singing loudly, heedless of the weather. On a recent sunny day, a rarity for us, I spent quite some time observing this Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos).
Most of the time, the mockingbird seemed to be just soaking up the warmth of the sun, but occasionally the bird would reach down and grab and swallow a bright red berry so quickly that it seemed to be inhaling the berry. In this shot, I managed to capture the berry before it disappeared.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
It’s amazing that you were able to catch the bird in the act of swallowing the berry!
What a beautiful shot!
Great timing. The bird almost looks like its scowling at the berry.
That is a very nice capture! Regards.
Mockingbirds are legendary singers, but I hadn’t realized until this post of yours that their species name is polyglottos, which means “able to speak several languages.” How wonderfully appropriate, and thanks for opening my eyes–and my ears!
My friend, Cindy Dyer, who got me started in blogging really encouraged me to post the names of all the insects and birds that I was photographing (including the Latin names). I took a couple of years of Latin in school and find the names to be fascinating, like the one for the mockingbird that you noted.
We had one living in our back yard one summer and I’ll never forget the wonderful songs that came from that bird. It was really amazing, as if we had one of every songbird living here.
Nice photo, Mike. Allan didn’t tell us which berries those were…they don’t look very juicy. Their Latin name is indeed very appropriate–to mimic several “languages” or songs. The more songs they know, apparently the more attractive they are as a mate.