Expert: Julia Booth - 6/16/2008

Question
I have a mockingbird & nest in one of my large,tall trees.  The bird is so noisy all night that no one can get any sleep.  Is there anything I can do to get rid of the bird and/or reduce the noise.  We're all walking around during the day half sleep!

Answer
This is a birding question for the ages. We've been discussing this forever and we still have no idea.

If they are just nesting, then they will be gone in a month's time -it's about two weeks for incubation and two weeks for fledging. They aren't likely to hang around too long after that.

For non-nesting Mockingbird issues I have two recommendations that sometimes work.

1. Purchase a few plastic, owl decoys and put them around your house.

2. Turn off all outside lights at night. Make your house as dark as possible. The more light, the more stimulation for them.

That's about all I can tell you. As indiginous birds, they are protected and we can't shoot them -no matter how tempting it might be.

And they're tough to discourage. I knew a guy that shot some firecrackers off near the place that they normally hung out and sang in the middle of the night, thinking that they'd be deterred and want to leave- and the birds pretty much laughed at him.

Good Luck,

Julia