These two mockingbirds definitely did not want this American kestrel hanging around my yard, but all the dive-bombing they did hardly fazed it.

The kestrel sat there unruffled for a few minutes, then dropped quickly out of sight behind the house—to grab a lizard for lunch I hope—and did not come back.

The American kestrel is actually a falcon and is North America’s smallest raptor.  It generally hunts in an energy-conserving fashion, sitting up high somewhere until it spots a mouse, lizard, grasshopper or a small bird to pounce upon.

Mockingbirds of course are the karaoke champs of the bird world. The one we see, the northern mockingbird, carries the moniker Mimus polyglottos. The Greek word polyglottos means “multiple languages.” And they can get very aggressive, especially if there is a nest at stake.

Did you know that a group of mockingbirds is called a mockeroserous?

Poet Walter J. Wojtanki had this to say about that in 2016:

Sounds quite prehistoric
rather almost reptilian,
a mockingbird cotillion
will bear your silly name.
Birds of a feather flock to-
gether, but this many-tongued
mimic is an odd gimmick with wings.
It will make a mockery of things!

© Walter J. Wojtanik – 2016

Here are several photos of the kestrel on his own and the encounter with the mockingbirds. Just click on any one to scroll through the larger versions.