The Northern Mockingbird is a year-round resident throughout most of the United States and is renowned for its complex, mimicking song. A male’s repertoire often contains more than 150 distinct song types which change during its adult life. Songs are acquired through imitating the calls and songs of other birds, the vocalizations of non-avian species, mechanical sounds, and the sounds of other mockingbirds.
A mockingbird's song can be both beautiful and infuriating. When I was a freshman at Texas A&M, there was a mockingbird that parked outside of my dorm window every night for several weeks, singing and chirping constantly. After a few sleepless nights, we formed a posse to go scare it away, but it just kept coming back.
We see the Northern Mockingbird on a regular basis here in Maryland, and it's always a nice reminder of my childhood home.
There is nothing like the feeling of shooting a mockingbird at first light on a cool Maryland morning, but sometimes, the best part of the hunt is sharing your harvest with close friends and family members. Here is a tried and true recipe, guaranteed to get you excited about that 3 a.m. wakeup.
ReplyDeleteUsing filleted mockingbird meat marinated in Italian dressing, onions, green peppers, red peppers, bacon, and corn. Then build your kabob to your tastes. Grill on the top rack (or indirectly) for 15 minutes to bring all the ingredients to temperature, then cook on the bottom rack over hot fire, quickly, for about 5 minutes. Mockingbird meat should be rare to medium-rare for best taste. Serve with cheese-garlic toast and wild rice. Will feed 6-10 people.
Ingredients:
10 Mockingbird breasts – filleted off breast bone
2 bell peppers
2 red peppers
1 large red onion
4 ears of corn
1 pound bacon
2 cups Italian dressing
Instructions:
Remove mockingbird breast from bone and quarter. Marinate in Italian dressing for 1-2 hours. Chunk cut peppers and onions. Slice corn into one-inch wide wheels. Slice bacon into 3-4 inch strips. On a skewer, alternate vegetables and mockingbird, using bacon on both sides of meat and an onion slice by the bacon.
But the fun is, you can build them how you like. Slow cook over indirect heat for 15 minutes, then cook on hot grill, basting with Italian dressing often. Mockingbird should be cooked rare to medium-rare.