Mockingbirds
These photos of my go-to bird, the northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), come from all over New York City, including Fort Tilden and Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, Central Park in Manhattan, Inwood Hill Park in Northern Manhattan, and Green-Wood Cemetery and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. It took me a while to differentiate the mockingbirds from other birds of the same size, but that long, bobbing tale is now quite unmistakable. I consider any birding trip a success if I can see one of these chatty birds (I wrote a haiku about one, see below). When Pale Male is feeding his offspring in late spring, the mockingbirds will chase him around and dive-bomb him.
Northern mockingbird, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, May 27, 2020
Northern mockingbird, Green-Wood Cemetery, April 17, 2022
Northern mockingbird, Green-Wood Cemetery, April 7, 2024
Northern mockingbird, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, March 25, 2021
Northern mockingbird, Green-Wood Cemetery, April 7, 2024
Northern mockingbird, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, March 25, 2021
Northern mockingbird, Central Park, March 22, 2020
Northern mockingbird, Fort Tilden, Queens, January 12, 2019
Northern mockingbird, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, September 13, 2019
Northern mockingbird, JBWR, September 13, 2019
Northern mockingbird, JBWR, September 13, 2019
Northern mockingbird, Baisley Pond, February 15, 2019
A Poem for a Mockingbird
This haiku was written and filmed on April 9, 2017.
“I stopped to listen
to a warbling mockingbird.
It was time well spent.”
More Mockingbirds
This photo was taken Jan. 7, 2016, on the shore of the Lake in Central Park east of Bow Bridge.
Inwood Hill Park, Feb. 20, 2016
Central Park, Jan. 7, 2016
Prospect Park, Dec. 30, 2015
