New sighting and long time no see sighting.

We saw a new bird out here for the first time in quite awhile. Dave saw it first, then I saw it again later. It's the Fox Sparrow. It looks a bit different from other sparrows just because it's the biggest sparrow and it has distinct brown barring on it's chest. No picture, since we both saw it fleetingly, but here's a link to the description and picture on whatbird.com
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/145/_/Fox_Sparrow.aspx

Some interesting facts from whatbird.com about the Fox Sparrow:

Interesting Facts:

• The Fox Sparrow is much larger than other sparrows.
• They scratch in leaves for insects and seeds and often make so much noise that they sound like a much larger animal.
• Adults are known to perform a broken-wing display to lure potential threats away from the nest.
• A group of Fox Sparrows are collectively known as a "den", "flock", and "slyness" of sparrows.

We also saw a Northern Mockingbird in the dead tree in the backyard yesterday too. We haven't seen this bird in a long time either. We usually see it once or twice in the late fall and then maybe in the spring (I'd have to check the records on that). It doesn't visit the feeders, but has been close to the front window in the past. Hopefully we'll get another look at it up close.