helenyard
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Registered: 18-5-2006
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Northern Mockingbird singing - Mt. Elden Rd.
I heard and glassed a Northern Mockingbird in my yard yesterday, Wednesday, 5/17. I've never seen a Mockingbird in Flagstaff, I'm usually doing field
work this time of year. Has anyone else seen one lately?
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gbotello
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Mockingbird
Until recently, I had never seen one. They might be starting to move into our area.
I saw one at Kachina Wetlands last week and at Page Springs, as well.
See my post Kachina Wetlands & Page Springs on 5/16/06. I attached a picture of the Mockingbird that I saw at Kachina Wetlands.
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Roger
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NOMO have generally been common summer residents in the Verde and a few singles are located on CBC's - usually having staked ownership to a pyracantha
hedge or some other especially productive food source.
In years of good rainfall in the lower Sonoran desert they are late in arriving here - to the extent that they are on second broods in the low desert
before they arrive in the Verde. Conversely in winters of sparse rain they are here early. Three wintered this year out on the Cornville
grasslands.
So the move north may be a result of poor conditions further south keeping birds moving in search of productive habitat.
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Mark Stevenson
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Being ignorant on this subject, I got out my AZ Breeding Bird Atlas book.
The map of the data is interesting in showing a band of no nesting of N Mockers along what appears to be the highest elevation land just above the
Mogollon Rim, perhaps including Flagstaff (though my biggest frustration in using this otherwise excellent book is having only county lines shown on
the map, to the exclusion of all other features, so I can't tell w/ much certainty where Flag is).
The text talks about NOMO not being found nesting above 7800 feet and nesters being absent in AZ only from high elevations, dense forests and sparsely
vegetated areas.
Given that, it seems the birds observed may be migrants headed to breeding areas to the north or drought-beaten wanderers as Roger suggested.
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Dave Lamkin
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I have seen NOMO recently:
May 6, singing atop a pine tree at Willow Bend Environmental Center
May 15 at Ashurst Lake
May 16 at Flagstaff Arboretum
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Tom Linda
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N. Mockingbird
I added one to my yard list with a singing NOMO a couple weeks ago, and then found another singing bird on Ft. Valley Road this past Monday.
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John Coons
Experienced
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Northern Mockingbirds
Northern Mockingbirds are irregular near Flagstaff with most sightings being in the open areas of the Transition Zone in places such as Anderson Mesa.
While the odd individuals are seen in the immediate Flagstaff area nearly every year, there are years when several occur. In the summer of 1996
numerous individuals were seen around Flagstaff and at least one nest was found. With the unusual number of sightings this early, 2006 could rival
1996 in the number of reports.
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Dave Lamkin
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Still more NOMO sightings
Today Marcia and I accompanied Bea Cooley and Jim Logan to "Logan's Patch" on E Rio de Flag. We had numerous (I'd guess about 10) NOMO sightings.
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gbotello
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More Mockingbird Sightings
I took a walk on the dirt road below the Mormon Lake Overlook on Saturday, 5/3/06. I spotted several Northern Mockingbirds (see attached Picture).
Also saw one in Doney Park on 5/2/06.
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elaine
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more on mockingbirds
Speaking of mockingbirds......June 1st, while conducting the "Maine" Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) along FR144, (the portion of the route north of Spring
Valley on the So Kaibab Forest) we found 9 singing mockingbirds during 11 listening stops of 3 minutes each. An understatement is to say that it was
difficult to determine which bird species one was hearing.
Elaine
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Mark Stevenson
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how does that number compare to previous years' BBS counts on that route?
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beverslee
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NOMO for me, too
A northern mockinbird has joined my (now resident) White winged dove in my yard in Doney Park. Sounds (and almost feels) like Tucson 
Darlene M. Lee
Flagstaff, Arizona
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elaine
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more on Kaibab BBS MOMOs
The Maine BBS route (from Garland Prairie northward, almost to Hwy 180) had a total of 13 No Mockingbirds this year, 9 of which were seen along a 5-6
mile stretch, north of Spring Valley. 2005 had 1 NOMO; 2004 had 2 NOMO; 2003 had 0 - it wasn't on the list as yet. I started doing the route in 2003
and have no previous info.
Elaine Morrall
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Chuck LaRue
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More mockers...
A few weeks ago I spent a night and morning at Keams Canyon and then again on the evening of June 8-9. On both of these trips I was suprised at the
numbers of mockingbirds in the pinyon-juniper of the mesa top above the canyon rims. I grew up in Keams Canyon (from 1966 to 81) and have visited
there many times since then (1981 and to the present) and I do not rememer mockingirds ever being in these areas. At that time they were birds of the
open flats of saltbush and greasewood of lower Keams Canyon and going on west into the open country toward First Mesa. I don't know if the population
is expanding or if these are drought refugees from the Sonoran Desert as noted as a strong possibility in the above posts.
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terrushka
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nomos north of peaks
I have seen a few singing mockingbirds north of the peaks recently. They have been in areas burned by the Horseshoe-Hochderffer fire, both intense
and moderate, along FR 514 east of Kendrick Park. I think the elevetion is around 7500 ft. One of them was doing some pretty good impressions of
pinyon jays and black-headed grosbeaks.
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