Mead Garden Mockingbirds

I had a little time to kill so I headed over to Mead Garden. It had been to long since my last visit. OK. Maybe only a couple weeks, but I used to go there every morning before the hurricanes of 2004 wrecked the place. I was hoping to find something of interest. Perhaps some lingering migrants. Most of my time was spent with the locals.

As soon as I arrived I started hearing a sound that I dod not recognize. I pinned down the are where the calls were coming from but still could not find the bird. Eventually, the flock came together in a different tree. Turned out to be Brown-headed Cowbirds. They are seen here from time to time. The first I ever saw was being fed by a warbler after an egg was hatched in its nest, unwittingly.



Not much else was moving besides some high-flying Parulas so I moved toward the boardwalk. Something made a crashing move through the underbrush and I finally found the source. A rabbit was trying to nibble the grasses before I spooked it.



Down near the creek I found the vegetation looking much more healthy after the recent rains. I also found a LOT of Lubber Grasshoppers, most in their pre-molt into adults.



I was happy to see that the ginger plants were blooming. Then I noticed a lot more grasshoppers just as happy.



Along what is left of the boardwalk I only found more overgrown plants and something made a very strange call. I could never find that call-maker but I was soon surrounded by this year's brood of Northern Mockingbirds. They quickly grabbed my attention. Especially when they would sit up in the Elderberry branches right in front of me.



The feather patterns easily identify these birds as juvenile but so does the brown iris staring back at me.



The young birds were greedily gulping down berries as the adults stayed lower and foraged for insects and the occasional fruit.



I finally made my way to the end of the walk and came into the butterfly garden where Titmice and Cardinals fed. However, another Mockingbird surprised me by picking up a Lubber. Lubbers have very few predators so it was heartening to find something eating them as the Lubbers can easily overrun some areas.



This juvenile thrashed the grasshopper into smaller pieces and swallowed the legs while I was shooting. Hopefully, the others will join in.



So, no real finds, otherwise, but this was the biggest brood of Mockingbirds I have seen in years here. A good sign for their flock.