Northern mockingbirds communicate primarily using song. They can perform at least 39 different songs as well as 50 other call notes. They also have the ability to mimic certain sounds such as dogs barking, pianos, sirens and squeaky gates. Song is also an essential part in mating. Males use their song to attract mates and to mark their territory. They sing often, both during the night and day.
Northern mockingbirds also use visual cues to communicate. For example, males perform a “flight display” to attract and court a mate (see Reproduction: Mating Systems). This display integrates auditory and visual methods of communication.
Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic
Other Communication Modes: mimicry
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Northern mockingbird populations are extensive and are not currently of conservation concern. There are an estimated 45,000,000 northern mockingbirds worldwide. This species is protected by the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
US Migratory Bird Act: protected
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Northern mockingbirds are often thought of as a nuisance because of their nocturnal singing, which may keep people up at night. Gardeners and farmers may also dislike these birds which often feed on fruits and vegetables, potentially damaging their crops.
Negative Impacts: crop pest
Northern mockingbirds eat insects that humans often consider to be pests. These include beetles, ants, wasps and grasshoppers. They also disperse the seeds of many plants. Humans often study their unique behaviors and vast vocal repertoire.
Positive Impacts: research and education; controls pest population
Northern mockingbirds play an important role as seed dispersers. They also impact populations of the insects they eat. Northern mockingbirds host several ectoparasites, including blowfly larvae (family Calliphoridae), fleas and mites. Finally, three cowbird species (genus Molothrus) brood parasitize northern mockingbirds. This means that these cowbird species lay eggs in the nests of northern mockingbirds that then raise the cowbird chicks.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
Northern mockingbirds are omnivores. Their primary food sources are insects, berries and seeds. Insects they eat include beetles (order Coleoptera), ants (order Hymenoptera), grasshoppers (order Orthoptera) and spiders (order Araneae). Plants that are included in their diets are: holly, mulberries, raspberries, dogwood, brambles, grapes and figs. They also eat earthworms, and occasionally small crustaceans and small lizards.
Northern mockingbirds usually forage on the ground or while perched in a tree or shrub. They obtain water by drinking from puddles, river and lake edges and dew and rain droplets that collect on vegetation.
Animal Foods: reptiles; insects; terrestrial worms; aquatic crustaceans
Plant Foods: seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit
Primary Diet: omnivore
Northern mockingbirds are distributed throughout North America, including Canada and Mexico. In fact, sightings have been reported as far off the coast as Hawaii (where they were introduced). However, northern mockingbirds are most commonly found in the southern regions of the United States and are most often sighted in Texas and Southern Florida. They breed from northern California, eastern Nebraska, southern Ontario and Atlantic Canada southward to southern Mexico.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); oceanic islands (Introduced )
Northern mockingbirds prefer open areas and forest edges. They are commonly found in residential areas, farmlands, roadsides, city parks, open grassy areas with thickets and brushy deserts. They require a tree or higher perch from which they can defend their territories. Northern mockingbirds occupy similar habitat year-round.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune ; savanna or grassland ; scrub forest
Other Habitat Features: urban ; suburban ; agricultural
Northern mockingbirds have been known to live up to 8 years in the wild. Captive northern mockingbirds have lived up to 20 years.
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 8 (high) years.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 20 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 178 months.
Northern mockingbirds are medium-sized birds with long legs and tails, and short, rounded wings. Males are larger than females, ranging from about 22 to 25.5 cm in length and averaging 51 g. Females range from 20.8 to 23.5 cm long and weigh an average of 47 g. Northern mockingbirds have gray-brown upperparts, with a large white patch on each wing and white outer retrices that are conspicuous in flight. Their black bills are long and somewhat decurved. Males and females are similar in appearance, with the exception of difference in size and slightly darker tail feathers on females. Juveniles are similar to adults, but have brown spots on their underparts.
Range mass: 47 to 51 g.
Range length: 20.8 to 25.5 cm.
Sexual Dimorphism: male larger; sexes colored or patterned differently
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Adult northern mockingbirds are vulnerable to predation by sharp-shinned hawks, screech owls, scrub jays and great horned owls. Incubating females are also occasionally killed by snakes.
Northern mockingbird eggs and chicks are vulnerable to predation by blue jays, fish crows, American crows, snakes and squirrels.
When predators approach the nest, adults give alarm calls. Adults often also mob predators that enter a territory, sometimes striking them.
Known Predators:
Northern mockingbirds are generally monogamous. Polygyny and bigamy seem to occur only rarely in this species. Breeding pairs remain together for the length of a breeding season, occasionally for life.
Males establish a territory and attempt to attract a female using courtship displays. They may chase the female through the territory while calling, or run along shrub and tree branches, showing her potential nest sites. Males also perform a flight display, which shows off their white wing patches. In the flight display, males sing continuously while flying a few meters into the air and then parachuting slowly back down.
Mating System: monogamous
Northern mockingbirds breed in spring and early summer. Their nests are bulky and cup-like and are made of twigs, cotton, dry leaves, stems, paper, grass and other organic material. Nests are built in shrubs and trees anywhere from one to fifty feet off of the ground. After mating, the female lays two to six eggs (average 4 eggs), which are approximately 24 by 18 mm in size. The eggs are usually a blue to greenish color and may have several brown or reddish spots. Female mockingbirds are the sole incubators of the eggs. The eggs hatch after 11 to 14 days. Though the chicks are altricial at hatching, they leave the nest after 10 to 12 days. When the young fledge, the female usually begins to build a new nest, and the male is active in teaching the young to fly as well as continuing to feed them. The fledglings are independent in 10 to 15 days and reach sexual maturity in one year. Northern mockingbirds can raise 2 to 4 broods a year.
Breeding interval: Northern mockingbirds can have 2 to 4 broods a year.
Breeding season: Breeding occurs in the spring and early summer.
Range eggs per season: 2 to 6.
Range time to hatching: 11 to 14 days.
Range fledging age: 10 to 12 days.
Range time to independence: 10 to 15 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 1 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization ; oviparous
Average eggs per season: 4.
Females incubate the eggs, males do not. However, when the eggs hatch, the female and male are both active in feeding and protecting the altricial young. After the chicks fledge, the female begins to build a new nest for a second brood. During this time, the males teach the young to fly and continue to feed them.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; altricial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Male, Protecting: Male)
