This is a female mockingbird at the bird bath. They love grapes and cherries, and they also feed them to their babies. They chase all undesirables off the grounds, whether it's a cat, crow, or squirrel.
They are very smart, because one time I was chasing a crow with a pellet rifle. When I hit the crow, he just shook his feathers a bit. Two mocking birds were in the trees on each side of him. As soon as the crow moved, they went after him from both sides. It seemed as if they were waiting for me to do my thing, so they could step in and finish the job!
By Leigh from Litchfeild County, CT
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We had an old tree in our front yard with a mockingbird that lived in it. He was the meanest bird I've ever seen. When my cats went into the front yard, he'd swoop down and try to peck at their heads. He'd even try to land on their backs and grip them at their necks to peck at their heads.
We have known for a long time that crows are very intelligent birds. Researchers are proving that they are smarter than we ever dreamed, with intelligence approaching that of dolphins. In a controlled experiment, they exposed crows to scary stimuli (a man in a mask running at them while flapping his arms and yelling) They learned very quickly to fly as soon as they saw him. Then their babies matured and went to live in their own territories, with no further contact with their parents (the crows had radio chips on). The crows had no fear of people since people didn't threaten them. The researchers would then approach the area each bird was in.
If birds (and especially mockingbirds) have a nest nearby and are raising little ones, they know that cats are just waiting for the opportunity to catch and eat their babies. It's quite natural for the birds to do anything they can to protect their young. Trying to chase the cats away and keep them away was nature working at its highest level.
Our wildbirds and animals are having a very difficult time of maintaining life as it is, and they continue to lose more and more of what was their natural habitat as man encroaches more and more into it. They really have few places to go to be safe, so they're coping in the best and only way they know in order to preserve the species.
As someone else pointed out, crows are wonderfully smart and can be taught so many things. They have a hard enough time in the wild these days without adding man to the list of their natural enemies.
Hopefully, you will put away that pellet gun, please. Save it for target practice on tin cans maybe.
Pookarina
Shooting birds with pellet gun? Thumbs down.
I have to agree with Lilac.Nothing deserves to be shot with a pellet gun.In most cases it only injures an animal. IMHO the only reason for killing an animal is if it's rabid or attacking another animal or human.
Great photo of the mockingbird, they are interesting, except when the one by my house wakes me up so early in the morning! But I don't understand why you would want to shoot at the crow? What is it doing that is upsetting you so much? There must be a better way to deal with it, maybe if you let the Thrifty Fun community know what the problem is,we can help you brainstorm ideas to deal with it?
I love crows, they are so smart. I didn't think so when I was a kid, we had a bunch that lived in the pine trees next to the road by my house & when we'd ride our bikes down the road they'd dive-bomb us & scare us to death!! Looking back,it was probably spring & baby time. We now have crows that sit on the power lines that run by our house, they start squawking as soon as we open our front door in the morning. My little boy was terrified of them & didn't want to go outside to walk to the bus stop until I told him they were just glad to see him & were telling him "Good Morning Aaron!", so after that, to be polite we always answered them with "Good Morning Crows!" I think they knew we were talking to them!
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