In Which I Serenade a Mockingbird!

Here's your Disney princess moment for the day. :-) I was on my walk on Sunday morning, when I spotted a northern mockingbird on a berry bush. As I took a few pictures, it flew to a nearby tree. I continued on my walk, and came back through the same area 10 minutes later.

The bird was there again. This time, I sang to it! "Listen to the mockingbird! Listen to the mockingbird!" I sang sweetly. The bird, of course, listened to me, and came closer, and sat and peered down at me, but it would not sing! So picture me standing along the central Pennsylvania snowy roadside, around 20 degrees, serenading this poor bemused bird.

By the way, the song Listen to the Mocking Bird was written in 1855. Its lyrics were composed by Septimus Winner under the pseudonym "Alice Hawthorne," and its music was by Richard Milburn. It was a favorite of President Abraham Lincoln, who said of the song, "It is as sincere as the laughter of a little girl at play." Well, lemme tellya, *I* was that little girl!

My main soundtrack song is Listen to the Mockingbird, by Dolly Parton and Stuart Duncan.  My second track is Mockingbird, by Carly Simon and James Taylor. And here's a respectable cover by Toby Keith and his daughter Krystal.

More info about the northern mockingbird can be found here.