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If you’ve been hearing an endless string of 10 or 15 different birds singing outside your house, you might have a Northern Mockingbird in your yard. These slender-bodied gray birds apparently pour all their color into their personalities.
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Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, [1] often loudly and in rapid succession and for being extremely territorial when raising hatchlings.
At a Glance. This bird's famous song, with its varied repetitions and artful imitations, is heard all day during nesting season (and often all night as well). Very common in towns and cities, especially in southern areas, the Mockingbird often seeks insects on open lawns.
If you’ve been hearing an endless string of 10 or 15 different birds singing outside your house, you might have a Northern Mockingbird in your yard. These slender-bodied gray birds apparently pour all their color into their personalities.
- There are a total of 16 avian species in the world with the name “mockingbird,” but the Northern Mockingbird is the only one native to the United States.
- The Northern Mockingbird is a year-round resident across much of the U.S., but an expansion into the northeast has been successful due in part to the multiflora rose, or rambler rose.
- The mockingbird's latin name is Mimus polyglottos, which literally translates to “many-tongued mimic.” A polyglot is a person who speaks many languages, referencing the bird’s ability to imitate sounds from its environment.
- A study released in October 2019 found that, in addition to mimicking the calls of other birds and manmade noises like music and machinery, Northern Mockingbirds have been known to imitate at least 12 different species of North American frogs and toads.
The Mockingbird comprises a group of songbirds in the Mimidae family. Their closest relatives are thrashers, catbirds , and tremblers. Scientists recognize 17 different species of these birds across 3 different taxonomic genuses.
The Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of five states — Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas — reflecting its original, mainly southeastern distribution plus its tendency to nest close to houses.
