I went to Ojibway Park today to seek out the long staying Northern Mockingbird that has delighted and eluded birders over the last week or so. I had gone to see it yesterday and dipped on seeing the bird - although I was not willing to wait around too long due to time constraints.
Today though - I went again and saw it relatively quickly. I had walked to "the bridge" at Ojibway and had not seen it. On the way back to the parking lot, I stopped at a few points and finally say this bird - which was amazing to see. It is Robin-sized with a pretty long tail.
This bird is common as you go south towards Florida but can be a rarity in Ontario. Although... its pretty common in Southwestern Ontario and breeds in a few locations along Lake Erie. A few years ago, one of these birds was at another location within the Ojibway Park complex and I had heard it singing while sitting in my car. I would say that a Northern Mockingbird singing its sounds of other birds singing might be one of the 'neatest' bird experiences I have had... It really is a treat!
A few other birds seen today were the common birds at Ojibway at this time: American Tree Sparrow, Red bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Black Capped Chickadee, as well as a small flock of about 5-6 American Robins!
One last note in this posting was that I had my camera on "auto white balance" for the first few shots of the NOMO and then I tried switching to "cloudy white balance". The "cloudy white balance" shots reveal more browns and warm tones while the auto white balance has the colder, greyer colours.
Good Birding!
Dwayne
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