Mockingbirds

Mockingbirds put out some of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard. They have a tendency to 'mock' other birds, often at a rapid speed & will bounce from one birds sounds to another.
Being a nightowl myself, I notice that these are the birds that whistle solo in the wee hours of the early morning when all else is quiet.
Last year, I noticed that one of our neighborhood mockingbirds even had whistles that sounded like police sirens and ambulances.
Several years ago, I had a parakeet & my parakeet found a friend in the mockingbird. They would whistle endlessly back & forth...with the mockingbird imitating my little birds whistle. After my bird had passed away, that mockingbird would come back to my kitchen window & whistle in. I couldn't help it. I had to whistle back & for that year we enjoyed whistling to each other in loving memory of Touree(my bird).
This morning my DH heard scraping sounds coming from our wood-burning stove. He opened the door & out flew one mockingbird. I ran around...turning off ceiling fans & stood at the front door crouched down with it wide open. My DH ran from room to room with a butterfly net in hand encouraging the mocking bird to go to the front room. At one point the mockingbird landed on his thumb and before completely escaping our four walls, it briefly landed on my pointer finger.
The mockingbird is the state bird of Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee & Texas. They are known to know 40 different songs at any given time & have even been known to mimic the bark of a dog. They like open feilds for the eating of insects & thorny bushes for their nests. They love berries. They are very protective of their nests and I have seen one mockingbird successfully chase away 100's of blackbirds. They do not typically visit bird feeders, but will if you have a suet feeder or fresh fruits & berries for them. They prefer holly trees, mulberry trees, dogwoods, blackberries etc.
Somehow or another, a bird comes inside this house every year...
I just hope that the old wives tale about birds in the house are, once again, inaccurate. :)
Spring is officially here!