The Northern Mockingbird has to be when it comes to imitating other birds though. When they are on a roll, they can imitate multitudes of birds in rapid-fire fashion! Although starlings and mockingbirds are in different families of bird species, they both imitate birds.
A lot of people have been using the Merlin identification app. It picks up sounds of birds and shows you what birds are around. It works pretty well, if you stand still quietly but sometimes it displays a rare bird that you have to wonder about. I believe it can make mistakes, so it shouldn't be used as the sole source of bird identification. It can be a nice tool, however, in helping to let you know what potential species might be in the area.
When I was out on this particular day, the Merlin App showed that there was a Gray-cheeked Thrush nearby which would be a rare bird sighting in this area. Unlikely, but it's always worth looking. Anyway, I didn't find one.
This led me to a question. Did the mockingbird or starling imitate the Gray-cheeked Thrush and set off the merlin Alert? I guess I'll never know but it is an interesting possibility.
