Mimus polyglottos
Peter May
The Northern Mockingbird
is a bird you will commonly see in your yard. It grows up to
11 inches long (robin-sized) and is gray with white markings
on its wings and tail. Mockingbirds live in
parks, yards, forest edges, thickets,
and farmland. Mockingbirds mate in the
Spring and build nests in shrubs
and low trees. A pair of mockinbirds often has more than one
nest at a time. The male will watch over fledglings
(older young with feathers) while the female sits on a new
batch of eggs. Females lay three to five blue-green eggs for
each batch. They also have brown spots on them and are about
an inch long. Eggs hatch in less than two weeks. Bill Snodgrass Peter
LaTourrette Both parent mockingbirds
are very territorial
when they are nesting. They will defend their nests from any
animals they think are predators.
This includes people. If you get too close to a nest, even
in your own yard, they may "dive-bomb" you. Don't worry,
they have never been known to hurt anyone, but it is
probably very stressful for the bird. Mockinbird nests are
built with sticks, weed
stems,
grasses,
moss,
hair, rootlets,
dry leaves, and trash. Northern Mockingbirds eat
a wide variety of foods, including: beetles, ants, bees,
wasps, grasshoppers, earthworms, small lizards, butterflies,
caterpillars,
spiders, true bugs, blackberries, cherries, Elderberry,
Greenbrier, grapes, sumac, blueberries, Pokeweed, Sassafras,
Virginia Creeper, American Holly, Spicebush, and Flowering
Dogwood. Mockingbirds help many
plants by dispersing
seeds. After they eat fruit from the plant, they poop the
seeds out so they can grow in a new place. Predators of mockingbirds
include snakes, owls, and hawks. Mockingbirds are well
known for their singing, especially the males. They
mimic
many other birds (perhaps more than 200), dogs, cats,
humans, and mechanical sounds. They can even pick up sounds
being mimicked by other mockingbirds! Northern Mockinbirds
sometimes sing through the night, especially when there is a
full moon. Isidor Jeklin
Dr. Lloyd Glen Ingles, California Academy of Sciences