Mocking Bird
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There were always mocking birds around my house. I loved to listen to their endless improvisations of found sounds. One year a particularly gifted bird made his nest in the vines growing on my front porch. I spent a pleasant spring day notating his prodigious variations. He had an immense range and sang powerfully.
My girlfriend would whistle to him when she left the house. After the first day, he added a perfect copy of her airy whistle to his repertoire. As happens with girlfriends, she left at Christmas.
By now, it must be two or three generations of mocking birds later, but there are several I hear who still use the ex-girlfriend's airy whistle in their songs. The women come and go, but the song remains.
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Author's Note
Mocking bird on my porch.
Ha!
Really well done and big.
Love the closing line - yep, the song remains! ***
Love it. I used to listen to them compete. Males, I assume. It was like a little jazz combo, with each riff picking up the other and taking it a little further. Finally, when the "number" was as complex as a Coltrane solo, one bird would drop out, clearly tossing in the mating rights to his superior, who then would perform an amazing symphony of triumph. Mind boggling birds. *
Loved imagining this!
Thank you Ivan, Rachna, and Carol.
Mathew: The alfa mocking bird wasn't in my neighborhood this year, but yes, he was the John Coltrane of mocking birds. It does seem like a cutting session in a jazz jam. But after they out sing their rivals, they perform a display dance, that is equally amazing. And they are tough birds, I've seen them drive off crows, blue jays, parrots and other bigger birds.
Thank you all for commenting.
Yes, the song remains the same.
Thank you Gary. About 40 years ago I wrote a story about an ancient parrot that chattered in the old Mayan language. He was the unappreciated Rosetta stone for the ancient Mayan language. A lone domestic servant could understand his chatter. The Harvard profs thought his guttural mutterings were the result of a peptic ulcer. The language died with the parrot.
This is wonderful in its larger significance, how we leave an indelible impression on history.
"a perfect copy of her imperfect whistle"
That, to me, says it all.
Very nice.
The last line is a doozy! A+ / *
*, Daniel. So well done. The women go, but the song gives redolence that they were there.
A nice capture and comparison. Enjoyed! *
Thank you Sally, Jake, David and Charlotte for your flattering comments. I blush.
Love the birds and birdsong, glad they continue in a story as well. Would love to hear the Mayan language in a parrot. Dizzy Gillespie the parrot at Dreamtime in Wisconsin could sing while his master prepared his breakfast of raw fruit and vegetables, "Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together and try to love one another right now." Otherwise, his speech was delirious and followed the pattern of his elderly, delirious first owner until she died. Thanks, bird. *
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Nice work. Just enough and a great ending.*
Thank you Ann, Amanda and Gary. There is something indelible about an animal that displays wit and intelligence.
Nice. Love birds. People less. :-)
Right. Yes.
Nice piece - A bit haunting. I like it.
Thank you Lucinda. I much prefer birds to people.
Thank you Steven.
Thank you Sam. Haunting is good, like hearing your ex's whistle in a mockingbird's song.
Write about killing it and you will write a masterpiece.
What a great idea! A wonderful metaphor for many, many things.
well said, omnipresent. *
P.R. Thank you, but I'm not into killing girlfriends or birds. So, no masterpiece.
Thank you Bill. Someone e-mailed me and said it was a metaphor for NSA surveillance.
Thank you Bud. The mocking birds are singing their hearts out at the moment.
The sense that we are being observed skeptically by cheeky beings is an appealing note.
Thank you David. I'll bet there are many animal watchers out there, though few as brazen as mocking birds.
Enjoyed the tenderness of this story. ***
Thank you Brenda. It is a joy to have those birds around my house, and all the other song birds.
I like how streamlined this story is... not an extra syllable...
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Very nice. Wasn't there a odern classical composer somewhere who made a composition based on birdsong? Googled...Jonathan Harvey. But there's actually beem quite a few.
Thanks to Iain for bringing this to my attention, it's charming.
Ah, I liked this very much, Daniel. I found it immediately engaging and for me there was a soft wistfulness about it - almost deceptively simple.
Lovely.
Thank you Deborah, I'm just seeing your wonderful comment now, Ian, Samuel and Ellie Lee who alerted me to the earlier comments. Thank you all for reading and comments.