{"id":54703,"date":"2018-10-21T06:07:08","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T12:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=54703"},"modified":"2024-04-01T12:40:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T18:40:29","slug":"cooperative-northern-mockingbird-in-autumn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/10\/21\/cooperative-northern-mockingbird-in-autumn\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooperative Northern Mockingbird in Autumn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some days one good bird is all I get and if I hadn’t spotted this cooperative Mockingbird on a Fragrant Sumac in northern Utah yesterday I would have been mostly skunked.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Northern<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Northern Mockingbird in autumn Fragrant Sumac<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Click on of the images to see a slide show.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\"Northern<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Northern<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Northern<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Alert<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Northern<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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I saw other birds yesterday but they were either too far away or they were too skittish and took off before I could get focused on them. The other birds I photographed just didn’t make the mark so my best shots of the day were of this Northern Mockingbird.<\/p>\n

While I photographed the mockingbird it repeatedly turned its head away from me and it also kept looking up into the sky. I suspect that it could see an airborne predator that I simply could not see. I’ve seen both Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks in the same area so it may have been one of them that kept the mockingbird on alert. I really can’t say for certain but the mockingbird’s behavior said as much to me. There were three Northern Mockingbirds in this same area last time I was up there but yesterday I saw only one.<\/p>\n

I thought it seemed “late” to still be seeing Northern Mockingbirds<\/span><\/a> in Utah but I checked eBird and they are actually seen here year round. That surprised me because I thought it would be way too cold here in the winter for them. Most of them probably do migrate and this is just the latest I have ever seen this species.<\/p>\n

I’m just glad this Northern Mockingbird hung around or I would have come home very disappointed.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Northern Mockingbird photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

All images were taken with my Nikon D500 with the 500mm VR lens and 1.4x TC, ISO’s were 800 and 500, aperture was 7.1, shutter speeds ranged from 1\/1000 to 1\/2000.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some days one good bird is all I get and if I hadn’t spotted this cooperative Mockingbird on a Fragrant Sumac in northern Utah yesterday I would have been mostly skunked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1148,818,26],"tags":[4004,4540,970,6852,8303,4098,4620,6767,6583,4282,821,820,6814,5719,4192,4104,6768,7630,6046],"class_list":["post-54703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-northern-mockingbird","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-alert","tag-autumn","tag-colors","tag-cooperative","tag-desert","tag-fall","tag-fragrant-sumac","tag-leaves","tag-lift-off","tag-mimids-2","tag-mimus-polyglottos","tag-mockingbird","tag-mockingbirds","tag-northern-mockingbird","tag-perched","tag-rhus-aromatica","tag-sumac","tag-twig"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/northern-mockingbird-autumn-mia-mcpherson-2583.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eej","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":162719,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/11\/05\/close-northern-mockingbird-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":54703,"position":0},"title":"Close Northern Mockingbird at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge earlier this week, I had a close-up opportunity to photograph an adult Northern Mockingbird from the road.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern Mockingbird portrait at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/northern-mockingbird-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9867.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/northern-mockingbird-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9867.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/northern-mockingbird-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9867.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/northern-mockingbird-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9867.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":134944,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/09\/24\/hatch-year-northern-mockingbird-in-fall\/","url_meta":{"origin":54703,"position":1},"title":"Hatch Year Northern Mockingbird In Fall","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"When this hatch year Northern Mockingbird flew into the birdbath two days ago, I was ready to photograph her or him as soon as they landed on it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hatch year Northern Mockingbird at a birdbath, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/northern-mockingbird-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-3772.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/northern-mockingbird-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-3772.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/northern-mockingbird-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-3772.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/northern-mockingbird-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-3772.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137188,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/12\/01\/northern-mockingbird-on-suet-feeder-plus-a-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":54703,"position":2},"title":"Northern Mockingbird On Suet Feeder Plus A Video","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, I'm sharing a simple Northern Mockingbird photo along with a video I took last month in Arkansas. 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