Recently I have been seeing Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) fairly frequently at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The long tail and the coloration of this bird makes it fairly easy to identify.
Normally mockingbirds are quite vocal, with an amazing variety of songs, but the ones that I have seen recently have been surprisingly silent. On the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, I learned that, “Northern Mockingbirds typically sing from February through August, and again from September to early November. A male may have two distinct repertoires of songs: one for spring and another for fall.”
I also learned that the most frequent singers are unmated males. “Northern Mockingbirds sing all through the day, and often into the night. Most nocturnal singers are unmated males, which sing more than mated males during the day, too.” I wonder if that means that the best singers cease singing once they have found mates and the ones that we hear most often are the second-tier singers.
I was happy with the little portraits that I captured of this handsome mockingbird. The first photo shows a bit of the environment in which I found the bird, a beautiful mixture of mostly shades of brown. I really like the way that the background came out, but found the small branches to be a little distracting.
I changed my shooting angle for the second shot and cropped a little close to focus attention on the subject. As you can probably tell, I also used Photoshop to remove the little branch from the frame. Some photographers are purists and won’t remove elements from their photos or even crop them, but I do edit my shots, though most of the time I make only a small number of changes and adjustments.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Reblogged this on Wonders of Wandering.
I have mockingbirds coming to my feeders for dried mealworms, but I’ve yet to hear a peep out of any of them. In fact, the only birds I’m hearing just now are the chickadees, and a very occasional squawk from the bluejays.
What a precious bird and I love their songs, too. 🎶 you really have such a way of capturing our nature friends.
Amazing information you provided with the lovely photos, Mike.
Really like the second shot in particular, Mike with the minor edits and clean up. The image is gentle, and there are no distractions from the lovely bird.
Thanks for the feedback, Chris. I too like that shot too–in general I prefer a minimalist, uncluttered background whenever possible.
Very nice, Mike. Mockingbirds make great subjects, often sitting still long enough to frame them –unlike some of the zippier fellows we know! The background you captured is a nice scheme for the bird’s simple colors.