NIGHT SONG by artist Ulla Anobile

This piece is in honor of Mr Mocker, who used to inhabit the bougainvillea bush in front of my kitchen window. He was a very loud and expressive singer, who entertained us with his compositions and imitations (his specialty was a piercing car alarm sound) all night long.

Once he’d found a mate, things quieted down, but soon there’d be incessant peeping and chirping coming from the nest the couple had built amongst the dense foliage, where it was safe from predators. Eventually, little heads would pop up from the nest, and then Mr and Mrs Mocker began their tireless hunt for insects for their babies.

I remember that when the fledglings began to leave the nest and hop around the driveway, the whole tribe of mockingbirds sat at the roof’s edge, shrieking and urging the kids on.

Amazingly, my semiferal cat Muru would sit and watch quietly at the other end of the driveway, interested, but properly respectful. Her distance might be explained by the diving practices Mr Mocker had aimed at her head, so that mutual caution prevailed.

Nowadays, the mockingbirds have found other places to build their nests. The bougainvillea was cut down for house repairs, and has never quite reached its former glory.