I posted these haiku as tweets several months ago, but my mockingbird experience was so amazing it deserves a blog of its own. If you’ve ever had a mockingbird singing outside your bedroom window, you’ve asked the same question—how can such a small creature have such a booming voice?!

Singing all night long
Operatic, undeterred
Crazy mockingbird!

Original arias
Hilarious mimicry
Nature’s ventriloquy

Unabashed self-esteem
Feathered body, outsized voice
Crazy mockingbird!

Avian liturgy
Your vespers, your vigil
Amazing mockingbird!

From the topmost twig
Of the old oak tree, you sang
For weeks, was hard to sleep

Yet silence was grief
Beauty so ephemeral
Nature's gift

Thank you, my crazy, amazing mockingbird!!
(Photo by Jay McGowan, Cornell Lab of Ornithology)