Northern Mockingbird

Mimus polyglottos

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family MIMIDAE

Menu

1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The "American nightingale," the Northern Mockingbird is known for its long, complex songs that include imitations of many other birds. It is a common bird of hedgerows and suburbs, and has been slowly expanding its range northward.

Cool Facts

• The Northern Mockingbird frequently gives a "wing flash" display, where it half or fully opens its wings in jerky intermediate steps, showing off the big white patches. No one knows why it does this behavior, but some have suggested that it startles insects into revealing themselves. However, it does not appear to flush insects, and other mockingbird species that do not have white wing patches use the display, casting doubt on this idea.

• The Northern Mockingbird is a loud and persistent singer. It sings all through the day, and often into the night. Most nocturnal singers are unmated males, which sing more than mated males during the day too. Nighttime singing is more common during the full moon. In well-lit areas around people, even mated males may sing at night.

• A Northern Mockingbird continues to add new sounds to its song repertoire throughout its life.

• The Northern Mockingbird typically sings throughout most of the year, from February through August, and again from September to early November. A male may have two distinct repertoires of songs: one for spring and another for fall. One study found only a one percent overlap in song types used in spring and fall.

• The female Northern Mockingbird sings too, although usually more quietly than the male does. She rarely sings in the summer, usually only when the male is away from the territory. She sings more in the fall, perhaps to establish a winter territory.

Description

• Size: 21-26 cm (8-10 in)
• Wingspan: 31-35 cm (12-14 in)
• Weight: 45-58 g (1.59-2.05 ounces)

• Medium-sized songbird.
• Long tail.
• Pale gray above, whitish below.
• Bill thin.
• Two white wingbars.
• Large white patches show in wings in flight.
• White outer tail feathers.

• Central tail feathers black.
• Thin, dark eyeline.
• Eyes yellow to orange.
• Legs long and dusky.
• Bill black with brown base.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Immature

Juvenile similar to adult, but with faint spots on breast.

Similar Species

• Gray Catbird is darker gray all over, without white in wings and tail.
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is similarly colored, but is tiny, lacks much white in wings, and has a white eyering.
• Loggerhead Shrike has less white in the wings, black wings, a black mask, and flies with wingbeats too fast to count.

Sound

Song is a series of varied phrases, with each phrase repeated many times in a row. Includes much mimicry of other bird songs and calls. Call a harsh dry "chew."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Resident from southern Canada southward to southern Mexico and the Caribbean.

Habitat

Found in areas with open ground and shrubby vegetation, such as in parkland, cultivated land, and suburbs.

Food

Fruits and insects.

Behavior

Foraging

Forages on ground and from perches. Picks fruit while perched on branch, but may hover to get some fruit.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Open cup of dead twigs lined with grasses, rootlets, and dead leaves. Placed low in shrubs and trees, usually 3-10 feet high.

Egg Description

Color: Pale blue or greenish white heavily marked with reddish spots and blotches.

Egg size:16.0-20.3 mm x 20.1-29.0 mm.
(0.63-0.80 in x 0.79-1.14 in)

Incubation period 12-13 days.

Clutch Size

2-6 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with light gray down.
Chicks fledge in 12 days.

Conservation Status

Common and widespread. Populations may be declining in heart of the range, but range is expanding northward.

Other Names

Moqueur polyglotte (French)
Centzontle, Jilguero, Ruiseñor (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Derrickson, K. C., and R. Breitwisch. 1992. Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). In The Birds of North America, No. 7 (A. Poole, P. Stettenheim, and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
2. Hayslette, S. E. 2003. A test of the foraging function of wing-flashing in northern mockingbirds. Southeastern Naturalist 2:93-98.