[mou] Carolina Wren? Northern Mockingbird? Tufted Titmouse? Rice Lake Refuge

[Pastor Al Schirmacher]

There has been some excellent dialogue on the identity of the heard bird on 
the Aitkin field trip Saturday.

The bird sang repeatedly for a couple of minutes, then shut down.  The song 
could easily be transliterated as "Peter, Peter, Peter", but with an 
occasional two note ending as well, and much more musical than Tufted 
Titmice that I've historically heard in southern Wisconsin over the years 
(former residence).  It was very loud/emphatic.

About half the group joined searched visually for the bird, but we were 
hampered by the ponds and under/overgrowth.  We did glimpse furtive movement 
around a cavity, but never had anything like definite views (as noted in the 
original email).

We came to the conclusion that the closest song was a Carolina Wren after 
playing a CD - believe it was the second or third set of calls on Stokes (?) 
that was a match - one person noted a short response from the bird while 
playing it.

Today I read an equally plausible audio ID:  Northern Mockingbird.  This 
comes from the gentleman who originally heard it while doing a BBS last 
week.  Mockingbirds have been seen in this refuge on a number of occasions 
by staff (and others) - whereas Carolina Wren is a statistical anomaly 
there.

So we need a good visual ID!  The bird was singing in the (right side of 
road) pond with dead snags a few hundred yards or so before one completes 
the loop and begins heading out again.

Good birding to all!

Al Schirmacher
Princeton, MN
Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties