Northern Mockingbird and the Black Jack Fig

We have a Black Jack Fig tree growing in a large container on our patio, next to the Meyer lemon tree.

This variety of fig tree is a semi-dwarf version, and can grow to 6 feet tall in a container.

It is a hardy tree, producing fruit every year, starting from the first year we had it, growing rapidly from a little 12 inch sapling to 5 feet in height.

The figs are very tasty, and the birds know it.

The local Northern Mockingbirds are big fans of the figs, and will even devour them when they are still half ripe.

I observed this mockingbird dining on a ripe fig, which you see to the upper right.

The bird would take breaks to digest, sitting on the same branch nearby.

Sometimes between bites it would call out, presumably to ward off any potential intruders.

Meanwhile a Lesser Goldfinch briefly checked out what was going on, then left the scene.

When I looked out the window an hour later, the entire fig had been eaten.