Getting rid of mockingbirds

[30calflash]

Might try a couple of rubber snakes placed in areas around the yard...some birds are very wary and afraid of snakes..maybe the mocking bird is one of them...

I know this works with other birds, a friend used it exclusively to keep them for decorating his nearby deck. He placed them in some shrubs in front of the deck.

Another thing I've heard is to tape a mocking bird on a recorder and play it when one sounds off. They are supposedly territorial and the recording will drive the others away.

[Good Cheer]

Forty years ago I had a cat that laid in the grass to get dive bombed by birds and watched for the pellet rifle to ease out through the kitchen window. She really hated blue jays. Couldn't get her to tree squirrels but she did come when called by name and answered to a whistle. Mighty fine cat.

Nowadays I whistle tunes to mockers for fun. In 1991 had one behind our place in Spring, Texas that would answer with a few bars of La Cucaracha. Got one around the place these days that has a tizzy when that bird he can't find keeps challenging his kingdom. They're funny little dinosaurs. The way mockers act I reckon we're lucky the big ones died off.

[BAGTIC]

Of course you know that shooting mockingbirds is a federal felony. There go your gun rights, voting rights, etc. Buy some ear plugs.

[bedbugbilly]

Better than playing music or hawk sounds would be to play Hillary crying about loosing the election. . . the neighbors probably wouldn't complain but I'm sure the birds would leave en masse as fast as they can. Sorry, couldn't help it.

If I'm not mistaken, pellet rifles shoot lead pellets for the most part and isn't lead banned by your state? Not to mention you are talking about a protected songbird? Where our house is in AZ, we're right across from a stretch of open desert and there are all sorts of critters and pests . . . but . . . even as open as AZ is as far as gun laws, etc., a pellet rifle is a no no inside the city limits. In your situation, in a densely populated area, all it would take as a pellet falling on a car, window or person and I have to believe you'd be in a whole heap of trouble. I'm not a "bird person" but I would guess that one of their reasons to be so populated where you are is that something is giving them a good food source - remove the food source and they'll thin out but I'm guessing that it would be hard to get the neighbors to remove their plantings, etc. that are furnishing them food.

[9.3X62AL]

Of course you know that shooting mockingbirds is a federal felony. There go your gun rights, voting rights, etc. Buy some ear plugs.

U.S. Code Title & Section, please. News to me, if so.

[Walter Laich]

In Texas they are the State Bird and are protected by law.

+1

course the armadillo is the state mammal (small) and we still keep running over them. I really think they are a suicide species--you know, 'death by car'

[sparkyv]

Interesting that they make a raucous at 2am. I can't say that I've ever heard Mockingbirds making noise so early in the morning.

[Multigunner]

I checked and was surprised to find the Mocking Bird is in fact protected by Federal laws covering migrating birds.

Don't know what the penalties might be for killing them, perhaps just a fine but it would be best to find out first.

The Mocking Bird is also the Tennessee state bird.

[vzerone]

http://www.pacificwildlife.org/info/.../fmbtalist.pdf It's a very old law.

[jmorris]

They are protected here. If not in your area, get rid of the nest, that is what they are protecting.

Years ago we had a Siamese cat that lived outside, it was a killing machine. It would lay in the grass flicking it's tail when the Mocking birds came around. When they dove down to attack, it was the last dive they ever made.

The offspring of that cat were completely feral so we trapped them and took them to our farm.

Every now and then you could catch glimps of one, come in the barn and the tractor seat was warm, etc. one year there were kittens on top of the hay, eating squirrel.

[texasnative46]

bedbugbilly,

Being exposed to SCREECHING "Hillary ROTTEN Klintoon" would likely drive the Mockingbirds away. - They ARE Texas birds after all.

Btw, here in TX we chuckle about the things done by our official State bird. = One in our neighborhood has learned to sound exactly like a CAR ALARM.

yours, tex

[BAGTIC]

If you get close to a nesting mama bird, she will give you some acupuncture on the head!

So will jays and blackbirds

[9.3X62AL]

Hmmmmm.......mourning doves are PROTECTED under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but are lawful for take during set seasons that comport with Treaty co-signers (principally Mexico, in this instance). Treaty states that no listed dove species can be taken in the United States prior to Sep. 1, and that no State can depart from those guidelines. Not trying to be didactic here, but "protected" is NOT the same as "cannot take".

[MusicMan]

SSS
S. shoot
S. shovel
S. shutup

[35 shooter]

The Mocking bird is the MS. state bird also, as i see it is in several other states from the posts above. I didn't realize it was so favored by other states before reading this.

Anyway, i stepped outside about 8 0'clock last night with a hurricane brewing about 90 miles south of us, and one was singing away like he didn't have a care in the world.
I guess he knew the hurricane was going to hook east and north of us?
Lol, he was singing in the rain, though we didn't get much of that either.

[tunnug]

Interesting that they make a raucous at 2am. I can't say that I've ever heard Mockingbirds making noise so early in the morning.

We had one make a home in our orange tree for a few months, he would be whistling and making a racket at all hours of the night, during the day he'd be on the neighbors pine tree up high doing the same thing, he eventually moved away.

[Geezer in NH]

Hmmmmm.......mourning doves are PROTECTED under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but are lawful for take during set seasons that comport with Treaty co-signers (principally Mexico, in this instance). Treaty states that no listed dove species can be taken in the United States prior to Sep. 1, and that no State can depart from those guidelines. Not trying to be didactic here, but "protected" is NOT the same as "cannot take".

Using your method show us an open season on them.

No season means protected.

[9.3X62AL]

I have no idea what I'm writing about, obviously. I asked above for a citation of U.S. Code Title and Section in order to assess Federal law and its elements. You will recall that I am not the the one with the mockingbird problem. They are a nongame species in CA, and in absence of Federal statute and enabling language incorporating State law, I had no ability to cite someone taking a mockingbird in my state, and would have ignored it enthusiastically in any event. Dove seasons/limits are set by state law FOR A BIRD DESCRIBED IN THE FEDERAL MIGRATORY BIRD ACT--which is the law under review here. So are ducks and geese--and state officers can enforce regs covering seasons, limits, take methods, etc. But a Migratory Bird Stamp is not required to take doves and pigeons. In short, the law is a patchwork of agenda-driven statutes and regulations, and unless a course of conduct was specifically described in violation elements--I stayed out of people's hair. I suspect most conservation officers feel the same way--life was interesting enough chasing jacklighters and bear parts smugglers without having to monitor mockingbird eliminations & executions.

[luvtn]

FWIW Mockingbirds do not migrate. They stay year round. Probably protected as a songbird? In my area the Mockingbirds have become furtive,cover seeking, like the Brown Thrashers. Of course there are a pair of Coopers Hawk that cruise through!
luvtn

[The Lord Flashheart]

Get a drone with a NV camera, get even .