Monday, November 17, 2008

50. ~ Mockingbird ~

"Mimic of tongues" is what the mockingbird means in Latin! This bird has thirty-nine songs and up to fifty different calls. It is nine to twelve inches in length. They like to 'flash' their wingspan of fourteen inches. They tend to jerk their wings open intermittently. The mockingbird has a thin bill and is greyish-white in colour. Their underwing area is snow white. Both the male and the females are beautiful singers. Both genders look alike. They eat berries, seeds, ants, grasshoppers and beetles. The have been know to mimic sirens, dogs, and other noises. Usually the female lays four eggs about twice a year. Mockingbirds will sing all night long, and they especially love to sing under the light of grandmother moon. Mockingbirds as well as the roadrunner bird will actually attack their own reflection. Many people have witnessed this action on the windshield of their vehicle. Magpies will not hesitate to attack anyone or anything that sticks its nose too close to their nest. A female mockingbird chooses her mate for his singing qualifications. Harper Lee wrote the classic story many of us have read or at least heard the title of "To Kill a Mockingbird." Nelle Harper Lee, was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. She had her book published in 1960, and since that time it has never been out of print. (What a wonderful accomplishment for any author to have). Her book, like the bird has been its own form of mimic, because it has been publish in ten different languages, and has sold more than thirty million copies. Harper Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Pulitzer Prize! Although they did know each other, Truman Capote never wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird!" It is reported that people have written, "there are two books we should all read before we die, To Kill a Mockingbird, and the Bible!"

Medicine:

Mockingbird medicine teaches to be careful how we mimic other people. This bird brings the medicine of singing. The mockingbird tell us to sing no matter how our voice sounds. The mockingbird teaches that even a plain-looking person can be carrying a truly gifted voice. This bird reminds us 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder.' People with the mockingbird as their totem are constantly singing, day or night. These same people may be singing while they are doing something else and be completely oblivious to it, until someone happens to ask them, "what are you singing?" People with mockingbird medicine are gifted with the love of singing.

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