What’s That Noise?
It’s near midnight in early March and I’m hearing a loud chirping coming from outside my bedroom window? Spring is coming. You know what that means? Mating season for our little animal friends.
Click here to experience what I heard. Living in the West SFV, we tend to not have as much noise at night compared to our city neighbors (unless you live near the freeway). So what is this bird that is making all that racket? After some investigating, it seems I’m not the only person hunting for an answer. I found its none other than a tenacious male Northern Mockingbird is most likely the culprit.
”The Northern Mockingbird is typically the culprit in these all-night song marathons. Mockingbirds that sing all night long tend to be young, still-unattached males or older males who have lost their mate, and so the best way to shut him up is to entice a female mockingbird to your yard, too. He’s already doing his best to accomplish this, though to the disappointment of both of you, he’s not succeeded yet.”
Early Mockingbird Popularity
Thomas Jefferson was very fond of mockingbirds and on Monticello.org there is a page dedicated to the story about Jefferson acquiring mockingbirds and teaching them to sing. He even took one to France in 1784. Historians think Jefferson taught his mockingbirds to sing.
I found several articles praising the sounds that mockingbirds make in the late 1800s. I was delighted to have found an example of commerce relating to the supply of these birds as pets in an early Los Angeles Times articles from 1884-1885.
Mockingbird Protection In California
By 1888, in the LA Times was a letter to the editor about bird shooting. The letter starts with, “A great annoyance to which people living just outside the city of Los Angeles are subjected is the shooting of birds by pot-hunters from the city.” People living in the outskirts were subjected to unnecessary bullets flying about.
Eventually, bird protection went into place in the state of California in 1890.
Then by 1902 there was news in the LA Times regarding a monopoly being established with mockingbirds. Mockingbirds were becoming more popular than canaries, however due to the new California laws, one could not possess a California mockingbird. It was a “misdemeanor to shoot, wound, trap, snare or in any other manner catch or capture any mocking-bird in the, State of California.” So, mockingbirds from Oregon were legal to sell and have as pets.
Then by 1927, Owensmouth (early Canoga Park) reported having a plentiful amount of mockingbirds. Owensmouth was just starting to get a bit more populated, however was still in the farm and ranch living lifestyle.
Mockingbirds Are Here To Stay
Thanks to protections put in place by the State of California and then the Federal Law called Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which “makes it illegal to take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, purchase, or barter, any migratory bird, or the parts*, nests, or eggs of such a bird except under the terms of a valid Federal permit. Migratory bird species protected by the Act are listed in 50 CFR 10.13”
Having Trouble Sleeping?
If you find they are too noisy for you and you’re spending your nights tossing and turning, here are a few options you can try:
- Cover the tree with bird netting but most likely your tree is too big for that
- Use a fan in your room to drown out the noise outside which usually works
- For truly stubborn lingering sounds, try the fan in tandem with ear plugs
- Try a white noise machine that can play non-looping sounds and get a deep sleep
- A true upgrade for your home would be double paned windows which also help reduce your energy costs.
If you can, try to relax and just enjoy the sounds of nature. Night, night!
West SFV Lifestyle 
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