The Entertainer

This past weekend I was sitting on the porch of a mountain lodge in North Carolina talking with a friend. It was a lazy kind of day as two friends spoke of the impending rain, and other subjects of similar significance, to the sound of rocking chairs. A gray bird flew across in front of us and I, having been the class ornithologist of the third grade, identified it as a mockingbird. 

“I’ve seen them chase crows,” I exclaimed.

“You think that’s something? I saw a couple of mockingbirds attack a snake one time!”, my friend said.

“Really!”

“Yep, one of ‘em was at his head keeping his attention while the other was pecking at his tail!” 

I decided to not relate how I had seen a mockingbird chase a yellow cat away from a bird’s nest once. 

The mockingbird’s  name describes it well. The bird weighs less than 2 ounces and is 10 inches or less in length. Lacking in colorful plumage, it is gray and white with a small head and sharp beak. Its stellar characteristic is its ability to mimic other birds, amphibians, and insects. 

I once heard of an incident which further accentuates the mockingbird’s ability to mimic. 

My friend Larry, like many men my age, served in military service during the Vietnam War.  Like me, Larry joined the Navy and was trained as a radioman. Radiomen aboard ships operate the radio equipment and send and receive messages. My job in the Navy was to repair radio equipment, but that has nothing to do with this story. Larry was sent to San Diego, California, for radioman training. Radiomen must be proficient in sending and receiving Morse code. An audible version sounds like a whistle that has two distinct tones. The combination of these tones represents a letter of the alphabet or a numeral. In practice sessions trainees would listen to recorded Morse code messages and interpret the code and write it on a pad. 

One day after a particularly long and trying session, when the class was over and the equipment shut down, an interesting thing happened. As they were closing the windows (It Is quite warm in San Diego in the summer.) they again heard the recorded Morse code messages. The Chief Petty Officer who was the instructor immediately approached the trainee responsible for shutting off the audio equipment  with fire in his eyes. When you have been in the Navy only a few months and a CPO with nearly twenty years is about to chew you out, you are indeed intimidated. Larry was. After Larry cringed and took his tongue lashing the Chief asked Larry to show him how he shut down the equipment. Much to the Chief’s surprise Larry had followed procedures to the letter. The Chief was beside himself and ordered that the windows be opened while he solved the equipment mystery. When Larry opened the window the Morse code message was heard again just like before. The code was coming from outside. Close observation determined that a mockingbird was the source of the Morse code message!

It's all in the name.