Who's Mocking Whom?

In 1971 we moved from Pickering Street to River Drive in the Danversport section of town. We’d always had apartments in two family houses until then, so this was my first experience with living in an apartment complex with lots and lots of neighbors.

Most of our neighbors were nice, some were not so nice, but no one particularly upsetting, except for one rowdy character who kept us all awake night after night in the summer. This guy was loud and obnoxious and carried on until nearly dawn. You never knew what kind of noise he was going to make and no one could seem to track him down and tell him to knock it off.

He’d sing and whistle, meow like a cat, howl at the moon and generally make a nuisance of himself. My father finally got fed up. His last nerve had been trod upon one too many times. Lacking proper sleep, his patience was shot and he was not about to let this carry on one more night.

So he called the Danvers police. He was adamant that it was a drunk outside, perhaps on a boat docked in the area and insisted that the police come and find the guilty party. The police department dutifully sent a cruiser to check things out. The perpetrator went mysteriously quiet. No one was found out and about who could have been causing the ruckus. The police left. The noise resumed.

Dad called the police again; once again a cruiser came, this time with the siren blaring only to be greeted with silence. By now the police were a bit fed up with Dad and questioned his sobriety, but since Mom and I and other neighbors attested to the noise and how often it happened, they agreed to swing by now and then randomly and see what they could find.

It took a few visits before a different officer came to the scene, and this one was an avid bird-watcher. He immediately knew that the culprit was a Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any suggestions on how to get him to quiet down. I believe it was suggested that we get some window fans to mask the noise.

I’m certain my dad wouldn’t have wanted to buy fans just because a bird was noisy. He was stubborn like that. The bird quieted down for a while, perhaps having found his mate. Mocking birds are monogamous and their songs do become softer once the nesting begins. Unfortunately, the peace and quiet didn’t last for long.

Mockingbirds are considered quite intelligent as well as great mimics. The noise started up again soon enough and we recognized the howling, the caterwauling, the off-key meows and then finally one new sound: a police siren. It was as plain as day, although we heard it at night.

We had a good laugh at that. The mockingbird was now mocking the police, proving that he was no bird brain and even had a sense of humor!