Hear a story about the Northern Mockingbird
Hear a Northern Mockingbird


from The Birds of Texas
by John L. Tveten

The Texas Federation of Women's Clubs nominated the northern mocking bird as the state bird of Texas in November 1926. On January 31, 1927, the legislature adopted the resolution unanimously, noting that the mocking bird "is found in all parts of the State, in winter and in summer, in the city and in the country, on the prairie and in the woods and hills, and is a singer of distinctive type, a fighter for the protection of his home, falling, if need be, in its defense, like any true Texan . . . " (The northern mocking bird is also the state bird of Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.)

The northern mockingbird does, indeed, live year-round across the entire state. It also ranges widely over the continent, from southern Canada to Mexico and the West Indies, withdrawing from only the northern states in winter.

Dull gray above, with white outer tail feathers and white patches in the wings that flash brightly in flight, the ten-inch northern mockingbird is not particularly colorful, but it makes up for that with its amazing vocal talents. The mockingbird imitates other birds so expertly that sound spectrographs show the renditions to be exact duplicates, even to the high-pitched overtones inaudible to human ears. A famous mockingbird at Boston's Arnold Arboretum was heard to reproduce "39 bird songs, 50 bird calls, and the sounds of a frog and a cricket.

Mockingbirds form long-term pair bonds and show unusual fidelity to their mates. The male begins to build the twiggy cuplike nest, and the female lines it with softer grasses and plant fibers, laying three to five bluish green eggs spotted with brown. She incubates them for about 12 days, and both parents feed the young that leave the nest some 12 days after hatching. Fiercely aggressive and territorial, mockingbirds do not hesitate to attack in defense of their eggs and young.

Excerpts from The Birds of Texas by John L. Tveten with permission from Shearer Publishing, Inc.

More Bird Facts Mockingbirds feed on berries and insects. They belong to the Mimadae family, whichincludes the catbird, several thrashers and numerous other mockingbird species. They have long tails and slightly decurved bills. Their plumage is drab in shades of gray or brown. All have extraordinary vocal abilities. They are often called "mimic thrushes."

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