Birdland

My Integrated Life

Birdland

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-18:04

Birdland

Avian Bebop Dept.

Dartanyan L. Brown

Mar 16, 2025

Transcript

[updated 11:20CST]

The Northern Mockingbird

The summer of 2011 a Northern Mockingbird (pictured above) set up shop right outside my bedroom window in San Rafael, Ca. If you know anything about this incredibly intelligent species they LOVE to sing and not just the same thing over and over. Mockingbirds can produce incredibly nuanced sounds, as you will hear in a moment.

Our songster held forth for days outside my window. It literally became part of the neighborhood soundtrack, almost ignorable in its constant presence blending with other sounds of the city.

According to the lore of the mockingbird, an unmated male will sing throughout the night. I guess my guy was mighty lonely because whether 2PM or 2AM he was out there singing his heart out.

On June 9, I finally started thinking: “What am I doing just letting this incredible avian music just dissolve into the ethers? I have the microphones, this marvelous creature has a voice.”

Was I guilty of listening without hearing (or is it hearing without listening?)

It was after midnight when I retrieved my handheld audio recorder, placed it on the window sill, turned it on and began capturing what you hear here. A 13-minute portion of the hours-long avian solo that floated for days through the neighborhood. For those of you who do listen with “jazz ears” please note the thematic development and variations present in this tour de force. Startling in some ways, amusing in others. Must be fun to be in a Mockingbird jam session.

Fun Fact: Northern Mockingbirds are members of the family Mimidae, the mimics. Please now settle back, my birder friends, and enjoy 18 minutes of uninterrupted audio magic from one of the best improvisors— of any species— I’ve ever heard.

Fun Fact Two: Mockingbirds being super observant often warn others of danger by mimicing the sound of an approaching predator.

There actually was a neighborhood cat which would make the rounds nightly hoping for a Mockingbird appetizer. Our soloist foiled the feline’s dinner plan by producing very credible feline-like calls warning of the appearance of the cat. Listen as it happens twice over the 13-minute session. Once as the cat enters and then again as he exits the area.

As you listen, please note that there is only one animal captured on this recording. All the sounds you hear are coming from one Northern Mockingbird perched outside my window in the very early morning hours. One bird able to produce songs with nuance, subtlety and (in the case of the cat..) warnings to his community.

Tech note:

The original recording, captured on a memory card held up fine but during the editing process I found that unwanted noises were a little too apparent to be ignored.

Fortunately, In the 13 years since I made the original recording, tools like ClarityVX made it possible to tease out new details of the birds’ multi-faceted voice while nearly eliminating artifacts which might distract from the listening experience. Fun challenges for an audio geek.

I’m grateful to be able to present something today that’s not divisive, controversial or even mean-spirited. As my dad used to say: “If it’s music, It’s Love”

Today’s featured vocalist must be full-to-the-brim with love.

Enjoy. (headphones suggested but not required for this experience)

This episode dedicated to Larry Stone who knows how to listen to the Land.

Hey Shade, How’s it goin’…

**A Northern Mockingbird h/t Santa Clara Valley BIRD ALLIANCE**

Paula Egan’s rendition of a Cedar Waxwing perched on a very similar branch. Watercolor and Ink on clayboard with lots of patterns representing the song of the Waxwing

Please share this one with your Bird loving friends.

Birdland

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