Monday, June 24, 2002

Stop mocking us!!!

We saw a flock of yellow-billed magpies today in the parking lot at the grocery store. They are very large, strikingly pretty birds with really long tails. Their black feathers were iridescent green and purple in the sun.

Yesterday in the backyard, the scrub or Steller's jays were chasing away the mourning doves.

We are still plagued by the Northern mockingbird. He sits atop the telephone poles throughout the neighborhood and sings non-stop. Very loudly! These pesky birds flutter skyward and tumble back to their perch like a backflip in the air. They sing well into the night and we have seen them (or actually HEARD them) all over town.

*correction: Our scrub jays are Western scrub jays. Ours do not have the black crest and have grayish/white underparts.