The Northern Mockingbird ( Mimus polyglottos) is a well-known bird species found throughout North America. Renowned for its mimicking song, territorial defense, and adaptability, the Northern Mockingbird thrives in diverse environments, from suburban gardens to wild landscapes. As a widespread, abundant, and easily observable species in human-dominated landscapes, the Northern Mockingbird has proven an excellent subject for a variety of scientific questions. Research on this species has focused on conspicuous behaviors characteristic of the species, its breeding ecology, and the exposure to new and emerging pathogens and contaminants. This article delves into the dietary preferences and foraging behaviors that enable this adaptable bird to flourish.
General Dietary Overview
The Northern Mockingbird is an omnivore, meaning its diet consists of both animal and plant matter. Its annual diet is about half insects and other arthropods, half berries and fruits. Specifically, the diet of the Northern Mockingbird consists of about equal amounts of fruits and arthropods (insects & spiders). This dietary flexibility allows it to thrive in various habitats and adapt to seasonal changes in food availability.
Seasonal Variations in Diet
Mockingbirds' diets change depending on the season. During the warmer breeding seasons, the diet will usually consist of 85% insects. In late spring and summer, it feeds heavily on insects, especially beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, wasps, and many others. It also eats spiders, snails, sowbugs, earthworms, and, rarely, crayfish and small lizards. Baby mockingbirds, or chicks, are pickier eaters when compared to their adult counterparts. Here, they will often eat softer invertebrates and arthropods, including various larvae, caterpillars, and worms. Indeed, in North America, the beetle larvae account for the majority of their diet.
In the fall and winter, the mockingbird shifts its focus to fruits and berries. The diet during fall and winter relies heavily on berries and wild fruits, occasionally supplemented with a few cultivated fruits. The fruit or hip of the non-native, invasive Multiflora Rose plant is a favorite winter food of the Northern Mockingbird. This seasonal adaptation allows the mockingbird to maintain a consistent food supply throughout the year.
Specific Food Items
The Northern Mockingbird consumes a wide variety of food items, including:
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- Arthropods: Beetles, ants, bees, wasps, and grasshoppers constitute a significant portion of their diet. It will also eat earthworms and small lizards.
- Fruits and Berries: Wild and cultivated varieties such as grapes, apples, barberries, hawthorn, elderberries, and rose hips are commonly consumed. They eat a wide variety of berries, including from ornamental bushes, as well as fruits from multiflora rose.
- Other: They’ve been seen drinking sap from the cuts on recently pruned trees.
If you want to attract them to your garden, putting out blackberries or elderberries is a great way to get their interest. You can keep Northern Mockingbirds from becoming a bully at your feeders by creating a feeding area just for them. Place this second set of feeders as far away from your original feeders as possible and fill them with goodies such as suet, mealworms, grapes, cranberries, dried fruit mixes, and raisins.
Foraging Behavior
When it comes to the foraging behaviors of these creatures, they can be considered extremely flexible. Northern Mockingbirds capture insects mostly while walking and running on the ground. Also watches from a low perch and flies down to capture items on the ground below. Perches in shrubs and trees to eat berries. The Northern Mockingbird is known to open its wings to “flash” their large white wing patches while running or walking on the ground. The purpose for this in not understood, but it may be an attempt to find insects by startling them into moving.
As mockingbirds are omnivores, they have to hunt for insects and arthropods to eat. This is generally achieved by hopping, walking, or running on the ground. When not on the ground, mockingbirds can catch insects from above, too. For instance, if they are perched on a branch and spot an insect, they will fly down and kill it instantly.
Habitat and Foraging
Year-round the Northern Mockingbird is found in areas with open ground and with shrubby vegetation like hedges, fruiting bushes, and thickets. When foraging on the ground, it prefers grassy areas, rather than bare spots. Common places to find Northern Mockingbirds include parkland, cultivated land, suburban areas and in second growth habitat at low elevations. The species favors habitats such as park and cultivated lands, second growth at low elevations, and suburbs, where it commonly forages for insects on mowed lawns.
Role in the Ecosystem
Northern mockingbirds play an important role in seed being dispersed. After indulging in a delicious fruit meal, Northern mockingbirds will expel seeds in their feces after eating berries or fruits. Along with aiding in the dispersion of seeds, mockingbirds also influence the insect populations that they eat.
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Additional Information
- Northern Mockingbirds are noisy and relentless singers that are known to sing well into the night, especially during periods when the moon is bright.
- Northern Mockingbirds have been known to identify individual people who repeatedly encroach into their nesting territory and will selectively harass them.
- Fiercely territorial, male mockingbirds have been known to recognize individual humans and will selectively attack them while ignoring other humans who pass by. During the two-week period that the nest is in use, it is best to avoid the area.
- The male Northern Mockingbird sings to defend territory and attract a mate, often leaping a few feet in the air and flapping his wings while singing. The early stage of courtship involves the male and female chasing each other rapidly around the territory.
Conservation Status
Northern Mockingbird populations declined by about 0.7% per year for a cumulative decline of approximately 30% from 1966 to 2019, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population of 43 million and rates them 8 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, indicating a species of low conservation concern.
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