Michael is a former biologist and Texas Master Naturalist. Originally from Newsome, Texas (Between Pittsburg and Winnsboro), educated in Dallas & Garland schools, then off to the University of Texas system where he received a degree in biology and worked as a biologist with the University of Texas system. After many years away from nature and biology, he relocated to the banks of Lake O' the Pines where he has been rediscovering the joys of nature. He is somewhat surprised that he has become a birder. Most of his interest in nature was centered around reptiles. Perhaps just like birds evolved from reptiles starting in the late Jurassic, he has begun his own evolution. During his formal education, his interests in biology/nature grew to include community ecology and population studies, all with a binding of evolutionary processes. He liked birds, but they were secondary at best. All at once he finds them fascinating.
Ah, it is Spring, and, as they say, a young man's fancy turns to love. Well, a bird in this case.
Last Spring, I had a Northern Mockingbird pair in my yard. They built a nest in a tall bush about twenty-five feet from my front door and fifteen feet from the feeders. For a couple of weeks or more it was interesting to watch their courtship and nest building.
In a few weeks they were a bit more secretive and then a few weeks after that, three little fledglings appeared. They would often sit in a group and beg whenever one of the parents got close. All in all, as before, fun events to watch.
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