Expert: Julia Booth - 4/25/2008

Question
I live in las vegas and I have a bird that is outside my front door.  I haven't ever seen it but I hear it every night. I was just wondering if you could tell me what kind of bird it might be.  I hear it all night whenever I go outside, but it doesn't keep anyone awake or anything like that.  I think its pretty neat to listen to it because it makes the strangest noises I've ever heard from a bird.  It chirps, sings, sounds like a police siren, like a car alarm, and many other sounds one right after another without more than a couple of seconds in between.  I would really like to know what kind of bird it is.  If you could tell me, I would really appreciate it, just to satisfy my curiosity....  Thank you so much for your time!!

Answer
That would be the sometimes nocturnal but normally diurnal Northern Mockingbird. In Las Vegas, the bright lights often stimulate them a little more than in smaller cities. (I have noticed that even some completely diurnal birds are fooled by the lights and get their internal time clocks messed up).

The Mockingbird can imitate almost any sound. It's breeding season, so the males are singing for their potential mates right now. They tend to go through a sequence of calls -I have often referred to them as "the car alarm birds" because of their vocal patterns.

Most people find them annoying and ask me if it's legal to shoot them. This is a refreshing change.