Mockingbirds and Thrashers

Gray Catbird

Dumetella carolinensis This common summer resident of dense thickets and shrubs can be endlessly entertaining, if only for its jumble of imitated calls and sounds. One even managed to “extend” the presence of another species, even after that other bird had long departed.Edwin C. Foster of Wolcott wrote that in May 1948 a whip-poor-will “paid us a short visit and then left, but not until a certain Catbird had decided that he liked the call of the Whip-poor-will and ever since has given us a fair imitation nearly every evening.” (GOS, May/July 1948) “If he would only omit the scolding notes and catlike ‘meows,’ which are frequently interspersed with his rarest notes, he would be one of our favorite song birds,” Eaton (1914) wrote. (Eaton II: 474) As John Brown noted in 1958, “Everywhere it lives out the summer, mating, nesting and raising its one or two broods of young close the habitations of men. Wary, watchful and always ready to retire quickly to the depths of protective shrubbery, it is still one of the steady customers at convenient bird baths. Practically everyone knows it, if not by sight at least by its feline call note.” (BA, 4 September 1958)
Background
As in other mimids, both sides of a Catbird’s syrinx can operate independently, allowing this bird, in effect, to “sing with two voices at the same time,” notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. This species’ repertoire may include more than 100 different types of syllables, ranging from whistles to squeaks and mimicked sounds, sung in seemingly random order in rapid sequence. This is a bird of dense, shrubby habitat, breeding across most of the eastern two thirds of the U.S. and into southern Canada, but most abundantly in the northeast U.S. west through Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. Catbirds quickly remove cowbird eggs from their nests. BBA data suggests declining numbers in the southeast and along the northeast periphery of its range but stable populations elsewhere. Since it winters primarily along coastal areas around the Gulf, high rates of development in those areas pose a threat. (BNA: 167: 1-2, 12, 14)
Local history
Even in Eaton’s time (1910) this was an abundant summer resident in much of our region (Monroe and Livingston counties, common in Wayne). (Eaton I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated average counts of four to 30 birds, with a maximum count of 60, on dates ranging from 10 April to 6 October. When Leo Tanghe examined 1,665 outings by Genesee Ornithological Society members from 1951-1954, he found this species reported 515 times within a 50-mile radius of Rochester, including 200 records during the summer months. Average counts of 7-10 were recorded late May and early July. Four reports were during the last week of December. (KB 5: 69: 5A-5B)In 1953, Tanghe listed this as an abundant breeding species in the Rochester area, listing Burroughs-Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary and Irondequoit Bay as nesting locations. (GOS, May/August 1953)It remains common to abundant today. Its status seems unlikely to change, even as reforestation and development claim its favored shrubby habitat, “for it readily nests in shrubbery in suburban and other heavily populated areas,” Burrill and Bonney note. (Andrle, p. 330)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, common summer resident and an irregular, rare winter visitant. Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this an occasional rare winter visitant and a regular common summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 3 April to 7 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 27 April to 5 May. Subsequently, one on 1 April 1986 (Madden) at Livonia was an earlier “first of spring.” (GOS, July 1986) Moreover, there are at least three records in March: One on 9 March 1952 (A. Tanghe, R. Dobson) at the Ling Road Marsh (GOS, March/April 1952); one on 17 March 1991 no location given (KB 41:184), and one on 25 March 1988 (S. Carlson) at Braddock Bay (KB 38:196), any or all of which might have overwintered.Not normally seen in large groups. However, this was the fifth most common species banded in spring by Braddock Bay Bird Observatory at Manitou during 1999-2006, with 1,637 taken from the nets. Spring maxima: 49 banded on 12 May 1997 (Brooks) at Manitou. (GOS, July/August 1997) 35 on 13 May 1961 (Rosche) Letchworth SP. (KB 11:101) 47 on 23 May 1987 (Bassett, Conklin) at Letchworth SP. (GOS, July 1987)
Summer/breeding status: This is one of the very few species for which evidence of breeding was found in every block assigned to our region during both BBA projects.

One late nesting bird was reported scared off a nest in Webster on 31 August 1958; it contained three eggs and a recently hatched young bird. (BA, 4 September 1958) When this observer surveyed breeding birds among the fragmented woodlots and brushy areas of Badgerow Park in Greece in 1993, Catbirds were, alongside Yellow Warblers and Song Sparrows, the most common.
Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 25 September to 14 November, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 4 to 16 October. However, note frequent winter occurrences.As in spring, one of the most common species banded in fall by Braddock Bay Bird Observatory at Manitou, during 1999-2006, with a total of 788 taken from the nets, and ranking ninth in abundance among all species banded.
Fall maxima: 25 on 17 September 1993 (Garfield) at Webster Park. (GOS, November 1993) 50+ on 21 September 1991 (F. and R. Dobson, Genesee Ornithological Society trip) Durand-Eastman Park. (GOS, November 1991)
Winter: One was at Rock Beach in January 1939, apparently only the second winter record in Monroe County. “A few winters ago one attempted to winter in the same location . . . but we lost track of him in February,” Edson noted. (WBR, 23 January 1939) Two on 20 January 1963 (T. Tetlow) were at Greece while another lingered in Durand-Eastman Park. (KB13: 106) One on 28 February 1974 (J. McNett) was still at Webster. (KB24: 74) Region 2 Kingbird reports mention January or early February sightings of this species in 17 of 30 years from 1976 to 2005. Though it is “usual for a few to linger into early winter, very few appear to survive until spring,” Howard Miller observed in 1969. (KB19: 28)
Winter maxima: As many as five during December 2005 (mob) at Webster Park. (LG, February 2006)
Misc.
Thelma McNett wrote that the catbirds in her Lake Road, Webster yard became enamored of the suet and raisins she put out in 1957, “and fed regularly all summer on these extra tidbits, despite the amount of wild berries available.” (GOS, March/May 1958)Often they are best seen when they visit the backyard bird bath. Frank Dobson had just cleared the fallen leaves from his birdbath in fall of 1986, when a catbird “started its cat-like mewing” nearby and “soon hopped to the rim. The catbird studied the water for a few moments, looked all around to see if the coast was clear and popped happily into the water. “Water flew in all directions for several minutes as the catbird took a good dunking. It probably reduced the water supply by half. Finally it had a good shake and disappeared into the bushes.” (Birds, 19 October 1986) Two summers later, during a drought, a pair nested in one of the tangles in his yard. The male would often go through a strange ritual when bringing the female a morsel of food while she tended the nest, Dobson reported. “On the way to the honeysuckle bush, he would stop at the bird bath for a drink. Then he would flit to the bush, choose a juicy berry and return to the water for a lengthy bath, all the while holding the berry firmly in its bill. After being sufficiently refreshed, he would carry the fruit to the female. He repeated the procedure with surprising frequency.” (Birds, 17 July 1988) Talk about a whirlwind courtship. This birder, who carefully kept track of such things each spring, first heard a Catbird singing in his backyard on 11 May 2006, a bit later than normal. The next morning, the Catbird had apparently already attracted a female. The birder spotted one Catbird chasing another.On 14 May the Catbirds were building their nest, in the same dense honeysuckle that Catbirds had been using every year, right next to the shed. Once again the birder felt a sense of validation. He had let his backyard go completely wild – all bushes, and a crabapple, redbud and hawthorn – as a haven for birds. The fact that Catbirds would find it a worthy nesting place was truly gratifying. In the meantime, he admired how the plain gray birds were so adept at weaving their way through a seemingly impenetrable mass of stems and branches. At one point one of the birds seemed to literally tumble through the mass of vegetation.Banded birds: Some interesting banding results have been reported. A catbird banded near La Carne, Ohio on 15 May 1988 was retrapped near Bill Symonds’ raspberry patch in Clarkson on 28 May that same year. “La Carne, Ohio is about 277 miles SW of Clarkson. This bird covered that distance in 13 days!” Symonds noted. (LG, February 1989) Another banded on 16 May 1995 at Manitou was killed by a cat on 16 June that year in Savannah, NY, “showing movement 52 miles ESE between migration and breeding.” One banded on 17 May that year at Manitou was found dead prior to 7 June near Wallorytown, Ontario, Canada. (LG, February 1996)An immature banded by Bob McKinney at Manitou on 20 August 2000 turned up dead on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico four months later, about 200 miles south of New Orleans. (BBBO newsletter, Spring 2001)

Brown Thrasher

Toxostoma rufum
“Six Brown Thrashers, some singing, all in sight at once, provided the best thrill of the day,” Richard O’Hara, 15, wrote after one his almost daily treks through Highland Park on 26 April 1938. It is easy to understand why O’Hara would be so pleased. Even as early as Eaton’s time, it was apparent that the “Brown thrasher has not learned to tolerate the presence of mankind so well as the Catbird.” (Eaton II: 477) Or as well as the Mockingbird, for that matter. The Brown Thrasher is the least numerous of the three mimic thrushes now found here, with evidence it is losing ground in areas where suburban sprawl and plant succession have reduced the shrub land it prefers.        Background
Our only eastern thrasher is not as well known as the Mockingbird for its vocal abilities, but is nonetheless a “remarkable singer with one of the largest repertoires of any North American passerine,” notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. It is found east of the Rockies and central Texas, inhabiting thickets and hedgerows in forest clearings and edges in the east, and fence rows, shelter belts and wooded draws in the Great Plains. The long, heavy legs help this ground forager sweep through leaf litter and soil layers for insects, fallen seeds and berries. This species benefited immensely from settlement of the Plains, where it is now most heavily concentrated; also from abandonment of farms in the East, leading to successional shrublands. Both winter and breeding ranges subsequently expanded. However, numbers of Brown Thrashers have declined rangewide by as much as a third since late 1960s as shrubland has matured into forests in the East, farms are cleared for mechanization, and fencerows and shelterbelts have been eliminated in Great Plains. (BNA 557:1, 4, 20)  Local history
Eaton (1910) recorded it as fairly common summer resident in our region. (Eaton I: county charts)R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, indicated hefty average counts of three to eight birds, with a maximum count of 25, on dates ranging from 6 April to 11 October. Tanghe, in his 1953 listing of breeding birds in the Rochester area, considered this an uncommon nester at such locations as Durand Eastman and Powder Mill parks. (GOS, May/August 1953)When he tallied up sightings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-mile radius of Rochester for the years 1951-1954, he found only 30 records of Brown Thrasher during the summer months, compared to 200 records of Catbird. There was a single report in early January. (KB5: 69: 5A-5B)When Beardslee and Mitchell compared tallies from various spring and fall “counts” in western New York, they found that Catbird outnumbered Brown Thrasher by nearly five to one in fall, and as much as eight to one in spring. (Bull, p. 422) Twelve on 21 June 1970 (Genesee Ornithological Society trip) at Avon was a good total (Fox, p. 77); “thrashers are doing well . . . and seemed especially evident this spring,” Richard O’Hara noted that year. (KB20: 129)However, as noted above, there is concern that this reclusive resident of hedgerows and open scrub is in serious decline both nationally and locally. (Levine, p. 446) This species may be losing out in areas where plant succession on abandoned farmland has advanced beyond scrub to actual woodland – or where scrub has been lost to development.
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a regular, fairly common summer resident and an irregular, rare winter visitant.Livingston County, Fox (1998) considered this a casual very rare winter visitant and a regular fairly common summer resident.
Occurrence
Spring: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of arrival dates from 12 March to 5 May, with a mid range, or “normal arrival time” of 18 to 28 April.
Spring maxima:    10 on 28 April 1956 (O’Hara, Miller) along the west lakeshore. (GOS, January/June 1956)    10 on 10 May 1958 (Miller, Starling) at Durand. (GNR)
Summer/breeding status: The BBA projects indicate this is now less widespread in our region than its cousins, the Catbird and Northern Mockingbird.Indeed, the second project marked a watershed of sorts: Northern Mockingbird actually edged ahead of Brown Thrasher in the number of blocks with evidence of breeding. Even as the Mockingbird continues to thrive in urban and suburban settings, it is precisely in those areas that Brown Thrasher is being pushed out.During the second BBA, for example, there was no evidence of breeding at all through most of Monroe County, where suburban sprawl has been the most extensive.

Fall: The Monroe County annotated list (1985) indicated a range of departure dates from 15 September to 5 November, with a mid range, or “normal departure time” of 26 September to 6 October.
Fall maxima: 6 on 17 September 1993 (Garfield) at Webster Park. (GOS, November 1993)
Winter: These long-tailed, rufous-hued birds occasionally linger into winter. For example, Edson was not overly optimistic about the chances of one at Highland Park during the winter of 1938-1939. It was apparently the first record of one attempting to winter in Monroe County. “Sometimes a bird attempts to winter in (other parts of) Western New York and, so far as available records show, the cold weather in January and February has proved fatal.” However, this bird had chosen a wintering spot with plenty of suitable fruit and “he has also already discovered two feeding stations where he may find suet to keep up his body heat.” (WBR, 23 January 1939) In early February it was “still withstanding the rigorous winter weather we have been experiencing.” (WBR, 13 February 1939) Edson seems to have forgotten all about this bird, later reporting that a thrasher found in February 1950 was “as far as I know. . . the first record for a brown thrasher spending the Winter in Monroe County.” (WBR, 20 February 1950)During the record snowfall of the 1959-60 season, one wintering along King’s Highway in Irondequoit appeared “fat and prosperous” when birders dropped by to check on it in mid February, “thanks, at least in part, to a feeder kept well-stocked by Mr. and Mrs. John W. Kennedy Jr.,” John Brown reported. The bird was particularly fond of a mixture of bacon fat, suet, flour and seeds. (BA, 18 February 1960) Another was at Webster the 21st of that month. (GOS, March/July 1960)Mrs. Walter Malone of Greece reported that one coming to her feeder in February 1968 “is particularly fond of a mixture she makes up of ground suet, bacon fat, peanut butter and breadcrumbs,” Brown related. “One day she tried putting a flat dish of warm water out, and the thrasher immediately moved in and took a bath.” (BA, 29 February 1968) Another coming to a Brighton feeder in January 1963 “shows a definite preference for suet over the seed that is also offered,” Al Starling noted. Unfortunately, he added, “few of these birds survive a full winter.” Whereas it was not unusual to find three or four reported in December and January, “during last four years, I know of only one bird that survived to raise a family the next spring.” (WBR, 21 January 1963) Other wintering birds were at Penfield and another at Greece in January 1965 (KB15: 106); at a Webster feeder during the 1969-1970 season all through March (KB20: 78) and in Irondequoit on 24 February 1973. (KB23: 90)Region 2 Kingbird reports mention January or early February sightings of this species in nine of 30 years from 1976 to 2005.

Sage Thrasher

Oreoscoptes montanus
On 12 April 1942, Charles Evans, Joseph Taylor and Gordon Meade were driving along East Manitou Road about a quarter mile south of Braddock’s Bay when “we chanced to note an unfamiliar bird feeding in dried portions of a flooded stubble field,” Meade wrote. (Auk 60:104) It turned out to be “possibly the most unusual record which we have for western New York,” Beardslee and Mitchell wrote in 1965. “The actions of this bird were similar to those of a Brown Thrasher, but its general color was gray,” Meade noted. The group spent a half hour observing it with binoculars and a scope before finally collecting it. It was a “perfectly healthy” female Sage Thrasher. It was the first state record of this “distinctly western” species (B&M, p. 338; Bull, p. 423), and the only one ever recorded in our region.
Background
The smallest of our thrashers is “rather plain and seemingly unremarkable,” but has a “long, melodious song of great variety,” notes the profile of this species in The Birds of North America series. It is generally dependent on large patches of sagebrush steppe for successful nesting; its breeding range is confined almost entirely to the western U.S., and its wintering range its immediately to the south, extending into Mexico. “The species tends to wander during migration, with individuals occasionally showing up as far east as the Atlantic seaboard.” Populations can be reduced dramatically when sagebrush is eliminated. However, this species apparently is better able to tolerate fragmentation of its habitat than other sagebrush specialists, such as Sage Grouse, Brewer’s Sparrow and Sage Sparrow. (BNA 463: 1-2, 14)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as an exotic, very rare visitant.
Occurrence
Only one record. The bird found by Meade and his party “foraged for a time in one spot, then flew to another feeding area in the open or to a hedge row,” Meade noted. “Its streaked under parts and brilliantly yellow eye were conspicuous.”After it was collected, close examination revealed “its plumage was in excellent condition, there being no evidence whatsoever of fraying or soiling such as would result from captivity. The upper mandible was, however, more than normally long, the rather strongly curved tip protruding 3 mm.”The skin was entered in the Louis A Fuertes Memorial Bird Collection at Cornell University as No. 12,789.

Northern Mockingbird

Mimus polyglottos
The fun began when a Northern Shrike flew into a rose bush where a mockingbird had staked out its winter territory in Badgerow Park. The mockingbird popped out the other side and perched in a taller, adjacent bush, fidgeting and giving a couple of scolding “chak” calls. When the mockingbird shifted to a utility line, the shrike occupied the bush the mockingbird just vacated. This “set off” the mockingbird, which dropped to a lower line, then into a rose bush, all the while giving off a long series of chak calls. About 210 of them, to be exact, one every couple of seconds – though the mockingbird paused between the 173rd and 174th “chak” to pluck at a rose hip! “The shrike, in the meantime, (engaged in) a variety of squeaky warble notes and calls, totally unperturbed by the mockingbird’s scolding.” The maneuvering continued for several more minutes. Then, the shrike abruptly swooped down at the mockingbird. “It (was) a short pursuit, the shrike perhaps 5-6 feet behind the mockingbird, but only for a few feet.” The mockingbird dove out of sight, but could still be heard scolding. The shrike went up into a tall tree next to the mockingbird’s favorite bush and resumed singing. And this birder, who watched all this on 12 January 1991, took away a lasting impression: two sets of startling white wing patches, one fleeing, one pursuing…. (Marcotte diary entry, 12 January 1991) Traditionally, the Northern Mockingbird has been associated with the scented, moonlit summer nights of the Deep South. Only recently has this talented mimic demonstrated it can also survive the deep snows and subzero temperatures of an upstate winter, where it must evade shrikes, and chase flocks of waxwings away from life-sustaining, berry-laden hedgerows, if it wants to see another spring.
Background
This celebrated mimic and songster, whose repertoire often contains more than 150 distinct song types, is now a permanent resident throughout the entire lower 48 states, and in Mexico and the Caribbean. It thrives in parkland, cultivated lands and second growth habitat, and is common in suburban habitat, especially favoring mowed lawns. Although it has recently declined in the southern part of its range, it has expanded northward during the past century, “a trend likely to continue as suburbs and areas of second growth spread,” Derrickson and Breitwisch note in their profile for The Birds of North America. (BNA 7:1, 3)
Local history
In the 1800s, this bird would be seen in Rochester primarily as a caged bird, when Mockingbirds were caught and sold throughout the United States and Europe because of their singing ability. (BNA, 7: 19)Eaton (1910) listed it as only an accidental visitor in Monroe County, with no record of occurrences in either Livingston or Wayne. However, he also noted that “several specimens have been seen in the vicinity of Rochester by different bird students nearly every year for the last 10 years.” Those that appeared in early winter “have been observed week after week, but in every instance, although the birds have been fed, they seemed unable to survive the coldest part of the winter, usually disappearing about the third week in January.” (Eaton I: county charts, II: 472) R. E. Horsey, in his listing of birds seen at Rochester and Monroe County from 1913 to 1936, also considered the mockingbird a rarity here, with “a wandering bird or two from Oct. to Dec. noted in several years.” Indeed, one seen in fall 1932 was only the fourth sighting in 20 years, Horsey and Edson reported in their weekly bird columns, indicating previous sightings on 25 November 1921, on 1 December 1925 and on again on 25 and 26 November 1929 when one “landed in the blackthorn collection in Highland Park.” (“Southern Mockingbird Returns to Rochester for Park Berries, D&C, 2 December 1929; “Mocking Bird Star Visitor, Though Its Fate Is Unkind,” D&C, 7 November 1932) Another remained in George Guelf’s neighborhood in Brockport from 26 September 1932 to 22 January 1933. (B&M, p. 334)Even in 1944, Edson observed that “about once in five years a bird is seen here, usually in the late fall or winter months. Why a bird of a warmer climate selects the months of increasing cold to wander northward is just another question for the researcher into bird’s mental reactions to answer.” (WBR, 20 March 1944)When Leo Tanghe tallied up sightings by Genesee Ornithological Society members within a 50-mile radius of Rochester for the years 1951-1954, he could find only 9 sightings of this species. Seven of those were in late December/early January, and none during the summer months. (KG5: 69: 5A-5B) Nor does this species appear on Tanghe’s 1953 listing of breeding birds in the Rochester area. (GOS, May/August 1953) However, a pair raised two broods on Oatka Creek near Le Roy that summer. (B&M, p. 334)The further establishment of this extraordinary songster as a local breeding species is well documented. In 1955, for example, Edson believed that “with persistence and luck” it would become an established breeding species here. (WBR, 21 November 1955) First Monroe County nesting was confirmed in 1957 when Mrs. Henry Schuchardt of Adams Road, Webster sent John Brown a note that a pair had nested in a spruce tree in her yard in June. Allen Kemnitzer inspected the nest that fall and reported that “Mrs. Schuchardt obviously knew exactly whereof she had written.” (BA, 14 November 1957)During the 1950s it “succeeded in raising several broods in the area east of Irondequoit Bay,” Edson noted, and by 1961 could “almost be considered … a common resident here and over most of the county.” (WBR, 11 December 1961) This nicely corresponds with Bull’s 1951-1970 time frame when this species increased “prodigiously and spread far and wide” in the state with more than 100 breeding locations recorded. “Few species have increased in the state as has the Mockingbird,” he observed in 1974. (Bull, p. 425)Observed in Livingston County as early as 1957 when one was recorded on the Conesus Little Lakes CBC on 28 December. The same bird, apparently, ended up at Don Wolf’s Livonia feeder a few days later “and has become a permanent fixture in my yard.“He thrives on suet (of all things) and has taken on a very possessive attitude towards our feeder. He fights off all comers, big or small, including Starlings, Hairy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. He was nice to have around for awhile, but has become bad for feathered public relations.” (GOS, March/May 1958)“It is now firmly established in the northern part of the county” as a fairly common permanent resident. (Fox, p. 77)By 1970 reported west of Rochester in addition to its “older stations” to the east and south. (KB 20: 188)Meade said this species’ northward expansion “is not readily explained,” but cited several possible explanations: “climatic warming favoring northward movement; the increase of residential areas providing additional suitable habitat . . . ; and the bird’s innate exploratory drive, which operates under advantageous conditions.” (Andrle, p. 332) Moreover, “The plantings of ornamental shrubs and trees (especially multiflora rose and pyracantha) around dwellings, have provided breeding and wintering habitat.” (BNA, 7: 19)
Status
The Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a fairly common permanent resident.Livingston County, Fox (1998) also considered this a fairly common permanent resident.
Occurrence
Summer/breeding status: Now easily found nesting in our parks, cemeteries, and other open spots through most of our region.The expansion of this species’ presence as a breeder in our region has been amply documented by the BBA projects. During the first project (1980-1985), this species was clearly established as a breeder here, with evidence of breeding found in about a third of the blocks assigned to our region. Most of these blocks, however, were concentrated immediately to the south and east of Rochester. There were large areas with no evidence of breeding from western Monroe into Orleans counties, and in much of Livingston and Wayne counties. The second project produced nearly twice as many blocks with evidence of breeding, and documented a significant expansion westward through Monroe into Orleans, and south into Livingston counties, with the only significant gaps occurring in eastern Wayne.However, it is still only an occasional, rare nester at Letchworth SP, naturalist Douglas Bassett reports. (Bassett, “One Hundred Years of Natural History Changes in Letchworth State Park,” The Genesee Naturalist, Winter 2007, p. 18)

Winter: These birds abandon summer breeding territories in favor of winter feeding territories – often a hedgerow of berry-laden multiflora rose or other shrubs – which they defend vigorously against waxwings and other competitors. The same Mockingbird that tangled with the shrike in Badgerow Park fiercely flew at a small flock of Cedar Waxwings that approached its hedgerow that same morning, driving them away. Apparently it recognized that the nomadic waxwings probably would have stripped the hedgerow of its berries in a few days, then flown off in search of other food sources. Severe winters dealt this species some initial setbacks. During a harsh January and even harsher February in 1958, for example, “the few mockingbirds which had worked their way into this area disappeared,” Howard Miller reported. (KB 8: 11) But they came back. During the winter of 1959-1960, when record snowfall was recorded, as many as six wintered in the Webster area. “The birds adopted the habit of spending much of their time sitting on chimneys,” Miller reported. (KB 10: 24) Severe winters during the 1970s apparently also took a toll on the early pioneering mockingbirds in our region. (KB 29:144) The local population appeared decimated after the severe winter of 1976-77, for example. (KB27: 151) However, more than thirty were seen during the winter of 1978-79. (KB 29:92) Maxima: 19 on 6 May 2007 (Kimball) Geneseo. (LG, July/August 2007) 14 (4 pair feeding young) on 21 June 1981 (Lloyd) in Wayne County. (GNR) 14 on 26 June 1999 (Genesee Ornithological Society trip) Nations Road. (GNR) 10 on 28 July 1969 (McNetts) Webster. (GNR) 14 on 12 October 1999 (Kimball) Nations Road. (LG, December 1999) 15 on 18 December 1994 (mob) Rochester CBC. (GOS, February 1995) 19 on 21 December 1997 (mob) Rochester CBC. (GOS, March 1998)
Misc.
As mockingbirds serenaded a beginner’s field trip in 2005, one could be seen atop the light fixtures in the parking lot at Ontario Beach Park. “As (field trip leaders) talked about the steady move north by these birds they seemed to move closer and closer to us,” Chuck Bordonaro wrote. “Eventually one circled us, and landed for a terrific view only a few yards from us. This clearly was the highlight of the trip.” (LG, June 2005)

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