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Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Baby Bird

In June, while I was working hard to get my manuscript ready to send to my editor, there was this scratchy squeaking noise outside my office window. It was relentless, too. It sounded like an injured animal, but multiple checks outside revealed nothing.

It was evening before I spotted the culprit. A mockingbird chick.

This "baby" was as big as its parents and fatter than both of them. In fact, they looked thin, probably from all the running they were doing to feed their chick. All three of them were standing together on the grass in front of my office window, but a parent would fly off, catch food, and come back to give it to the baby who was screeching nonstop.

The picture with this blog post is one I purchased because I couldn't get close enough to take a decent shot. And when I tried to catch one through my office window, the screen made it impossible to see the mockingbird family.

I found where their nest probably was located, too. In one of the crepe myrtle trees in my front yard. It was a surprising choice because it's a small tree and the nest would be low to the ground, but my subdivision was massively expanded in the past year or so, and maybe Mr. and Mrs. Mockingbird couldn't find a better location to build.

Anyway, that screechy squeak went from being annoying to making me run to the window to look for the baby. I'm so sad that they've moved on and baby has not only fledged, but learned to feed itself. Maybe they'll be back next year. I'll be watching.