Northern Mockingbird

Wish I could get a better picture of this bird.  Maybe it'll sit around and pose later?

Last week I had an unusual bird siting in the yard with a male Eastern Towhee - I'd never seen one before and it took a little while to figure out what it was.  He's been at the feeders quite a bit since then.

Today it's another odd siting - big silvery gray bird at the heated bird bath, drinking quite a bit.  More flipping through the bird book, paired with binoculars while it's now back picking frozen berries off the beautyberry bush, checking for white wing patches, etc, and I'm pretty certain this is a Northern Mockingbird.  It's really working its way through the beautyberry bush right now - good thing that bush produces so much!

I thought I've seen mockingbirds here on rare occasion before, but more often than not they've turned out to be catbirds (usually eating my strawberries).  I know we had mockingbirds at a house I lived in when younger, and they would put on an amazing show.  I've always hoped to have one here, but know I should be careful what I wish for - I think they're known for going from cool to obnoxious quite easily.

The bird book implies they're usually only in this area during migration - so maybe this one is just treating us like a rest stop on the highway, chilling out and staying for a meal before continuing on its way.