A New “Alarm Clock”
For most people, an ideal morning might consist of waking up to the warm sun creeping in through the bedroom window, along with the cheerful chirping of the birds from a nearby tree. Sadly, this is not the case for Michael, a part-time student that works late nights as a warehouse manager. Michael gets home around 2:00 a.m. every night, and heads straight to bed to get as much sleep as possible until his classes start at 10:00 a.m. However, for the past week, Michael has had a new “alarm clock” that he unfortunately has no control of. It is an energetic, loud, mockingbird that has decided to make the tree outside of Michael’s window his new home.
Each morning, the bird begins singing as loud as possible at exactly 5:55 a.m. and does not stop until late into the night. Most city birds begin the day with sweet, gentle chirps that can barely even be heard indoors, but the sounds of mockingbirds are very distinct and consist of various noises that the mockingbird hears and then imitates. This can include chirps from other birds, or even car alarms and school bells.
After one week of losing sleep as a result of the bird noises, Michael decided to do something. “Go away!” he screamed out his window. When that didn’t work, he started throwing things at the tree to try to scare the bird away. This only made the bird get even louder! As a final resort, Michael phoned his local Animal Control, and requested to get someone to remove the bird from the area. “We can’t do that,” replied the Animal Control Specialist. “Mockingbirds are a valued feature of North America’s wildlife and are protected by many laws. You should consider yourself lucky to have one so close to home. Just enjoy the beautiful sounds of nature.”
Furious, Michael hung up the phone, and threw himself on the couch, dozing off into the deepest sleep he had ever experienced all week. Only five minutes later he awoke to a thunderous “caw-caw!” coming from outside.
