Mockingbirds singing at night on the Lakeshore 24 April

[Andreas Jonsson]

While biking to Leslie street spit some time after midnight between Friday and Saturday last week I came across three singing Northern mockingbirds. As I had never heard mockingbirds sing at night before (and I really love the variety of imitations in their song) I thought it would be fun to record them. Coincidentally I was carrying an mp3 player with voice recorder functionality so I went ahead and tried it to see what I could get. It has taken me a few days to edit the clips and get them on the internet. So I apologize, this report is a few days old.

The first bird had chosen a rather odd spot for his nightly concert. He was basically sitting under the Gardiner Expressway just east of Parliament st. along Lakeshore Blvd. There is some great acoustics under the bridge, but he really had to work hard to out-sing the traffic noise! Here is the recording.

The second bird was singing from a group of conifers next to the parking lot of the Ashbridges Bay Treatment plant (located at the eastern end of Comissioners st.). Here is the recording.

The third bird was singing from a tree on Unwin ave., a couple of hundred meters west of the parking lot at Leslie street spit. Here is the recording.

Is anybody else doing recordings? I thought this was quite fun, and I'd be interested in getting some proper recording equipment. For these recordings I used a very simple mp3 player (Sansa Clip+) and the audio was processed to remove background noise. I wouldn't want anything much bulkier (I am already lugging around my scope!). Did anybody try remembird?

[Rob'in'To]

I was out yesterday and saw a Mockingbird singing away...  I thought I heard a Cardinal, Starling and Gold Finch but it was him.

I did a 10 second video with my digital camera.  It was so windy yesterday which didn't help the sound nor the actual video.  It was a time like this that I wished I kept my tri-pod in the trunk.  He was no more than 150 ft from where I parked.

[Niloc]

I was at the Bickworks today top of the hill I saw 2 Mockingbirds I was able to get a pic of one of them but it was pretty far away but it was for sure 2 Mockingbirds

[JW Mills]

There's a Mockingbird singing every day on Black Creek Blvd.
It sure has a varied repertoire!

[norman]

Thanks for posting the story and the recording -- it's quite good considering the equipment you describe ... The young males are known to sing through the night, particularly when the moon is bright (I think it was full on the 27th or 28th). That's all "MockerTalk," which reinforces the historical references to young, un-mated males going hormonal in a big way in certain conditions.

Somewhere in the literature -- 1940's U.S. South -- there's a quaint record of a young 'un who perched on some poor family's estate manor, sat on the chimney all night in the full moon, and didn't even pause. The rather repetitive (but I like it) sequences of five or six identical notes, followed by five or six different but identical notes, etc., reverberated through the ductwork all night, to the consternation of the family of sleepless folks within.

This invasion by an avian southerner is unprecedented for its sheer numbers; it makes the cardinal expansion into Ontario just over a century ago seem like a furtive crawl.

Now my brain hurts.

Good night all.

--nb