[TN-Bird] Mockingbird in "frozen" position

TN-birders,
While I was doing breakfast dishes at my home in the Charlotte Park area of 
West Nashville a few blocks east of the Cumberland River in Davidson County, 
one of my mockingbirds flew up to the kitchen window to "beg" for peanut 
butter. 
 I went outside to spread its treat on a grapevine while calling to the bird, 
"C'mon Boss."  The bird did not move, did not blink, & did not ruffle a 
feather.  It simply stayed perched in a "frozen" position a la bittern style.  
I 
returned to the sink and watched as it stayed "frozen" for more than five 
minutes with nary so much as a muscle twitch.

Soon, a Cooper's Hawk flew from a hiding place deep within the leaves of a 
neighbor's hackberry tree about 100 feet away.  As soon as the hawk was gone, 
the mockingbird flew across the street presumably to check its nest.  A few 
moments later, it came for the peanut butter, and life resumed as usual.  

I've been REALLY cutting back on the peanut butter and other food as I'm 
heading north for a couple of weeks soon, and I don't want my birds searching 
for 
a food source that suddenly isn't there.  I wouldn't even THINK of asking my 
non birding neighbors to do anything like feeding them for me.  The birds are 
adapting by finding plenty to eat in the yard and trees, etc.  When I get back, 
I'll reactivate "Dee's Smorgabird" for them.

Until today, I just never thought about a mockingbird remaining THAT still 
for THAT long.  This one held that "deer in the headlights" look in its eye for 
all the time it awaited the hawk's departure from the area.

Around 2 PM, I was at a picnic in Centennial Park in Nashville and heard a 
white eyed vireo singing away near the top of a leafy hackberry tree.  Grackles 
were invading the garbage containers for left overs in the rain.

Cheers & prayers,

Dee Thompson
Nashville, TN



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