Mockingbird

Just a few hours after posting about Scissortails and how much they look like Mockingbirds, I finally saw a Mockingbird. It's a Northern Mockingbird, and while it's range goes up to Wisconsin and New York it also goes down to Mexico. I guess North American Mockingbird might be a more apt name.
I've been hearing the state bird of Texas all over being very vocal, but this is the first time I got a good look. As luck would always have it the most interesting things come out the one time a week I go out without my camera, and this held true this time too. One reason plants are easier to identify is, even if you can't capture a picture, you can always take a piece home. You can't just take a bird home for identification, because even if you did there'd be quite a mess to clean up.

A Mockingbird call is both easy and difficult to identify. If you're somewhat familiar with bird calls and you seemingly hear five or six different bird species coming from the same spot in a tree... it's a good bet that you've found a Mockingbird. On the other hand, if it's singing unfamiliar songs it can be quite confusing.
The one I saw (only ten feet away, it was a bold bird) I found when I heard a bird song slide seemlessly into cricket noises.
They are smaller birds, only about 10 inches long and about a 1/3 of that is tail. They have white undersides and a light, dusty-grey back and head. The wings and tail are slightly darker but have little patches of white.

The eggs are blue with brown patches, but don't expect to see them as the adults are aggressively territorial. Nesting mommas are always more territorial, and I'm told they will land on people's heads and peck them if you get too close.

They're lovely birds with beautiful songs.