Fred and the mockingbirds

We have lots of birds around the nursery. I love watching and listening to the mockingbirds - so named because they mimic the calls of other birds. Several years ago we had a resident mockingbird who had the sound of tree frogs in his repertoire. It took us a while to recognize it, but it was definitely a "frog song", not a bird song he was imitating.
The mockingbirds are searching for a place to nest. They thought the bald cypress behind out office, which is still bald from winter, looked promising. Fred, our fat orange cat, was checking out the same tree. When he saw the birds in the bare branches, he took off up that tree. We didn't think he could move that fast.

Mockingbirds are large and aggressive and not frightened of a big orange cat. They chattered, swooped, and kept out of his way. By the time Fred gave up, he was at least 20 feet high in the tree.

We called to him that we wouldn't help him down and the local VFD did not make cat rescues, so he finally made his way down to the ground. The birds continued to call at him and are on the lookout for him now, dive-bombing him whenever he is anywhere near them.

As I write this there is a chickadee on our porch checking out the top of light for a possible nesting sight.