Beak of the Week – Northern Mockingbird

The state bird of Texas, the Northern Mockingbird, is a medium-sized songbird with a slender body and long tail. It is overall grayish brown in color, and has white wing bars that are strikingly visible when in flight. They can be seen in yards, parks, powerlines, forest edges, and open areas.

Mockingbirds are aggressively territorial; they often chase off intruding birds by flying slowly around them and flaunting their white wing patches. They will eat pretty much anything that is available to them, but they prefer insects in the spring and summer and fruits in the fall and winter. They nest in shrubs and small trees and build their nests with twigs, grasses, and sometimes trash.

Mockingbirds are well-known to be impressive mimics. Chances are you have heard this bird cycling through an extensive repertoire of songs. They primarily mimic other birds, but often they will mimic noises you may not expect like a car alarm or a jackhammer. Mockingbirds singing can be recognized by the number of repetitions of the mimicked phrase, usually three or more. This is in contrast to other Mimidae family members, namely the Gray Catbird and Brown Thrasher, with which it may share a soundscape. Their mimicked phrases are uttered once and twice, respectively.

Sometimes you will hear a mockingbird calling well into the night especially during a full moon, these are usually unpaired males in desperate search for a mate.

Mockingbirds are fairly widespread in North America and are residents across the state of Texas. They are often easy to spot, perching conspicuously on the tops of trees or telephone wires. Come to our sanctuaries and keep an ear out for these birds; see if you can guess what kinds of sounds they are trying to mimic.