All About Mockingbirds and How to Attract Them

Of the numerous wild bird species, mockingbirds have made a name for themselves. They've shown up as key characters in popular books, poetry, movies, and more. Why?

They're talented!

These sweet little songbirds can mock, or replicate, more than 200 bird calls and sounds they hear outdoors, including toads, frogs, and machinery. They've become so popular, they've even earned the state bird distinction for Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas!

We visited with Anthony Tambini, a TWS Associate Wildlife Biologist and owner of Tambini Outdoors, LLC, where he works with landowners as a land and habitat management specialist to help manage, enhance, revitalize, rehabilitate, and optimize properties. He's no stranger to chatting with folks about birds and their habits!

Northern mockingbird landing on a suet feeder.

How to Identify a Mockingbird

In the United States, you'll find one type of mockingbird.

"The scientific family of mockingbirds is Mimidae, which includes 10 species of birds, but only one with 'mockingbird' in the name: the Northern mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos," Tambini shared.

The Mimidae family also includes various thrashers and the Gray catbird.

The Northern mockingbird appears mid-sized with white and light gray feathers. Juveniles have speckles of gray on a white chest. The mockingbird also has a short black beak.

"One of the easiest ways to identify them is while they are flying, you will see a patch of white on each wing," Tambini added. "Identifying them by call can be somewhat tricky, because as their name suggests, they will commonly make calls of other species of birds. If you are sitting in your yard, and all of a sudden start hearing call after call of different species of birds, you might just have one mockingbird showing off."

You can listen to several songs and calls of a mockingbird on the Audubon website.

Worldwide, there are more species of mockingbirds, with the Blue mockingbird inhabiting Mexico and the Bahama mockingbird found on the island reflected in its name.

Northern mockingbird perched on a budding branch.

Where to Find Mockingbirds in Nature

The Northern mockingbird calls North America and parts of Mexico home year-round. Mockingbirds do not migrate like some other wild bird species.

However, during the spring breeding season, they tend to shift to the Western and Central parts of the United States and extend up the Eastern coast to parts of Canada.

These birds like to nest in shrubs, so you'll likely find them visiting your fruiting bushes and trees such as blackberries, hawthorns, and mulberries. They tend to sit on low fences and feed on the ground. You may even see a mockingbird hopping through your mowed grass lawn!

Tambini says mockingbirds do well in urban and suburban environments with trees of varying sizes, grass areas, and high powerlines, where they perch to sing their fabulous songs. It's not uncommon to hear a male mockingbird sing in the evening to try to attract a female in late spring and early summer, and again in late summer, since mockingbirds hatch two broods most years.

Northern mockingbird eating a red berry.

How to Bring Mockingbirds to Your Backyard

Mockingbirds love insects and berries! To attract these birds to your yard, plant a variety of native berry-producing bushes. This allows the birds to enjoy the fruits from summer into the winter months, when they pluck dried berries from branches.

You can also entice mockingbirds to your backyard by using a tray-style feeder to offer dried mealworms. This high-protein food gets fed to baby birds in spring and summer, and enjoyed by adult birds during winter months to produce extra energy.

Try adding a cake feeder to your backyard birding station and fill it with options that appeal to mockingbirds, such as:

1. Kaytee Seed & Mealworm Treat Cake: This high-energy cake features dried mealworms, hulled sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, and more to bring mockingbirds, bluebirds, woodpeckers, chickadees, and more to your feeder.

2. Kaytee Songbird Seed Cake with Mealworms: In this cake, you'll find a blend of canary grass seeds, dried mealworms, various millets, and more to bring nuthatches, finches, titmice, mockingbirds, and more to your yard.

3. Kaytee Wild Berry Suet: Some mockingbirds enjoy suet, a beef tallow dough that offers extra energy year-round. This berry-flavored option features suet, corn, white millet, and more.

Add Mockingbirds to Your Birding Hobby

With their widespread presence across the United States and fondness for berry bushes, it's not too difficult to spot a mockingbird. Look for the little gray bird with white on its wings. After all, you can't trust your ears. Mockingbirds have a huge catalog of bird calls and mimicked sounds!

Learn more about attracting wild birds in How to Setup Your Space For Backyard Birds.