Desjardins Recreation Trail, Hamilton ON. January 14th.2021. I went for a long walk this morning following a level harbour-side trail beside notably calm waters. Not very challenging and a uniform grey overcast sky made everything seem flat. I always hold out hope of a remarkable discovery along this water’s edge, but not today although several Gadwalls caught my attention. I like the male’s sombre overall grey plumage with a coal-black butt, pale gold highlights across the back and fine wiggly lines like fingerprints detailing their breast and flanks.
This group of three, two males and a female, show quite nicely their rather understated round-headed profile and the somewhat more flat-backed contour of the female. There were some other modestly interesting bird species, a couple of Great Black–backedGulls and several dapper HoodedMergansers, but it’s mid-January and stop-me-in-my-tracks birds don’t come easily. Until that is, just as I was about to return to my car, a NorthernMockingbird darted across in front of me and dived into a tangle of old grapes and hawthorns. It disappeared deep into the denseness and I was afraid that my first glimpse was all I was going to get. But then it popped up, paused and posed for a while, long enough to allow me a couple of photos. It certainly made my morning.
Mockingbirds are an infrequent sighting, I think there are fewer around these days than formerly, perhaps a decade ago. This corner of Ontario is a precarious toehold for the species which is definitely more southern in distribution.
I agree wholeheartedly- Gadwalls are elegant in their understated plumage Hoping this Mockingbird has not made a terrible error in his choice to stay.
Thanks, Peter. I enjoy reading your posts.
No Gadwall for me this morning in sunny, southern Spain nor even a Mallard. How strange is that? 80 Shoveler, 4 Red-crested Pochard, a pair of make White-headed Ducks and half-dozen Shelduck.
Hey, nice shots!
I love Mockingbirds especially when they fool me by using their different bird calls, like a variety of calls all coming from one tree. It makes me look up and wonder why so many birds are in one tree and ones that usually wouldn’t mix! Aha! Alas, it’s a Mockingbird!
I often see them around GO train stations (?!?), along the tracks where there are bushes and grapevines! I also frequently see them along the beach trail near the canal bridge too.
Thanks for sharing!
I was a little distressed to see the Mockingbird in wintry Ontario.
Of course, I see them everyday here in our Florida winter home and enjoy them in the warmer months in Ontario. But she seems a bit vulnerable.
In Naples today we observed 2 Broad Shouldered Hawks hanging out together on a spindly tree near a neighborhood pond, got within 15 feet.
Never seen 2 hawks sharing a tree limb before.
Mockingbirds stay all year here, they survive and seem to do well on fruit like berries of roses hawthors etc. but they’re few and far between. We are at the N limit of their current range. But it’s been expanding gradually (with some ebbs and flows).