Kenneth Collins wrote:
>> I experienced a wonderous thing the other day [2002-10-20].
>> When I went outside, there was a mockingbird singing its 'heart' out,
> crisp and clear, in all its virtuosity.
>> Struck me as 'strange' because mockingbirds' singing is correlated
> with their mating season, which isn't due, here in New England, until
> ~June of 2003. [To my knowledge, Fernando Nottabahm [sp?] didn't
> study mockingbirde, but I presume his work with other songbirds
> holds. He found strong seasonal neural hypertrophy correlated with
> the singing of his subjects.
>> Which is why this cold-weather mockingbird's singing seemed, to me,
> wonderous.
<snip>
Interesting you should say that; some Stellar's Jays around
here (Seattle) seemed to be engaging in mating behavior, and
their mating season also has passed for the year. As I
recall, last year the fruit trees in New England were
blossoming in Winter.
BradHAWK