Easily Amused Mario Cohn-Haft - Mid-August 1997 |
When youre stuck in town for a stretch, you have to be entertained by mundane things.
Dont think Ive told you about my new neighbor. Two weeks ago I noticed that there
was a Cacicus cela (Yellowo-rumped Cacique) hanging out in the tall avocado tree
behind the house across the street. In the past Id only seen them here as fly-bys.
Simultaneously I began hearing a Piratic Flycatcher singing all the time, which I almost
never used to hear from the house. When I began paying attention, the cacique was
singing all day long from right next to a big, hanging wasp nest in the same tree, and he
already had a female with him. In fact, it looked like shed started constructing a nest
just that day. What I dont know is whether he arrived with her already, or if hed been
singing for some days before she joined him.
Caciques are pretty good mimics, and Ive been fooled by them once or twice before,
including one who did a beautiful (but too loud) Hemitriccus zosterops song, but in the
wrong habitat. Drove me buggy before I figured it out. But normally Im trying to
survey the other birds, so I dont pay any more attention to them than identifying some
species-characteristic sounds and ignoring everything else they do subsequently.
However, as I mentioned, here in townright smack in the middle of a city of over 2 and
a half million people (thats my guess anyway, no recent census data)a cacique is a
moderately "good bird."
So, Ive started listening to this guy mimic, and hes doing pretty well for a city slicker.
He must have had some exposure to reasonable woods (or hes learned from his rural
forefathers by the oral tradition). Ive now recognized over 13 species in his repertoire!
Im apparently not the only one around impressed by his singing. Hes now got 5
females hanging around and 5 nests in various stages of construction!
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