They get drunk off the berries

The Devil’s mockingbird has returned from wherever asshole birds spend the winter and is doing his best hollering outside our house again. He begins at least around 3am and continues past 7am, pausing only out of respect for the barking Jack Russell terrier who hates everybody and the yellow Hummer’s car alarm that goes off when the wind blows. But only at night. It also sounds as if he’s attempting to mimic the car alarm but he hasn’t managed to get all the down yet chords yet - fmaj7 is a tough when you don’t have hands.

Think I’m exaggerating? Good thing I carry my camera around with me when I walk the pooch and look in people’s windows at 6:30 in the morning. This is outside our bedroom, every night.



You could chalk all this up to springtime. And you could say I should be happy that there is at least some form of nature in our neighborhood. But we already have dogs and cats, squirrels and crows that rip into our garbage cans and steal our Flipz, skunks, foxes, and an opossum family. Loud mockingbirds are not appreciated. And if you want spring, how about the 200 robins that showed up last week and went nuts and guano-ed our cars.

Don’t believe that?



I’ve spot-shadowed at least 60 in this shot and that’s only a small part of the tree. Welcome to Alexandria, VA – Home to Weirdo Avian Phenomenon and one dillhole mockingbird.