Leslie Street Spit - scoters, mockingbird, chipping sparrow

[silverfoxx]

Leslie Street Spit - Sunday January 5
While most birders seemed intent on tracking down owls we were satisfied with our first sighting of white-winged scoters - a small flock in flight and a lone bird on the water.
Also some unusual (I think) winter residents for the Toronto - a Northern Mockingbird and a few Chipping Sparrows

[thouc]

Are you sure about the Chipping Sparrows? They are rare in the winter, while the fairly similar American Tree Sparrows (with bi-coloured bill and spot on the chest) are common winter visistors.

[lovemypt]

I found 2 chipping sparrows as well, but on Sat, there were along the roadway towards the banding station just north of main roadway

[raypye]

If your sparrows had a red cap they are not Chipping Sparrows. Chipping Sparrows have a red cap in the summer, but not in the winter.
Rayfield Pye

[yep]

I agree, it is much more likely these were American Tree Sparrows.

[Fireweed]

I don't know if Mockingbirds are unusual in the winter or not, but there is a Mockingbird who lives in a tree next door to me all year (I live in Long Branch).
He makes things confusing, as I hear all kinds of birds just out my window, and it's him/her!

[Rotarran]

I would have to agree as well with the ATS assessments.  At this time of year I have only seen ATS, never a Chipping Sparrow.  Chipping Sparrows start arriving in Spring and you can see them throughout much of the summer.  Fall they already start clearing out and from what I've observed are among the first birds to high-tail it out of here.  But I've only been birding for a year so my findings are of a limited sample size.

[lovemypt]

I agree, it is much more likely these were American Tree Sparrows.

Well, I am not sure about the 1st poster's birds but mine were definitely Chipping sparrows in fall markings. I have see this species in both summer and winter marking many times before and have been birding for over 40 years. Didn't bother taking a picture at the time as they didn't seem that unusual, I have seen other ones before in winter at Riverwood sporadically, although those years didn't seem as bad as this year

[Reuven_M]

Chipping Sparrows are very rare in winter. There are hundreds of Tree Sparrows for every Chipping Sparrow that overwinters, and most winter chippers are found at bird feeders.  Only 11 Chipping Sparrows have been reported to eBird in Ontario this winter.

Compare American Tree Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrows and particularly first-year White-crowned Sparrows, all of which are far more common in winter.