Northern mockingbird

Mockingbirds eat bugs and berries.

In summer they catch beetles, grasshoppers and caterpillars. In fall and winter they eat lots of berries and fruit.

Over a whole year, a mockingbird's meals are about half insects and other small creatures and half berries and fruit. In late spring and summer it eats lots of beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants and wasps, plus spiders, snails and earthworms.

In fall and winter it switches mainly to berries and wild fruit. Mockingbirds hunt by running across lawns or by watching from a low perch and dropping down to grab food.

Audubon describes an annual diet of roughly half arthropods and half fruit. In late spring and summer the birds feed heavily on insects, especially beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants and wasps, and also take spiders, snails, sowbugs, earthworms and, rarely, crayfish and small lizards. Fall and winter diets depend heavily on berries and wild fruits.

Most insects are caught on the ground while the bird walks or runs, or by dropping from a low perch. Running in the open, a mockingbird may stop every few feet and partly spread its wings, flashing the white wing patches.

Mockingbirds sing all day in spring. Sometimes they sing all night too!

They are brave. They chase cats away from their nests.

Mockingbirds sing all day during the nesting season, and often all night as well, especially in bright spring moonlight. A male sings to defend his territory and to attract a mate, sometimes jumping a few feet into the air and flapping his wings as he sings.

Mockingbirds are bold nest guards. They will attack cats, dogs and even people who come too close to their nest.

Song is heard all day in the nesting season and often at night (Audubon; the Florida Department of State notes night singing especially under bright spring moonlight). Males sing to defend territory and attract mates, often leaping into the air with flapping wings; early courtship includes the male and female chasing each other rapidly around the territory.

Mockingbirds are solitary and territorial, and during nesting they attack animals as large as cats, dogs and humans near the nest. Its mimicry covers other birds' songs and also non-bird sounds such as barking dogs (Animal Diversity Web).

Long ago, people caught many mockingbirds to keep as pets.

Now that is against the law. Mockingbirds came back, and many live near people today.

From the late 1700s to the early 1900s, people caught many mockingbirds to sell as caged singing pets. They became rare in some northern places. After that trade was stopped, mockingbirds became common again.

Today there are about 43 million of them, and the IUCN lists them as Least Concern. But bird surveys show their numbers slowly falling, and scientists are not yet sure why. Mockingbirds are the state bird of Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.

Trapping for the cagebird trade, from the late 1700s to the early 1900s, caused drastic declines in parts of the range; populations rebounded after the trade was banned, though the IUCN notes reports of illegal trade from Mexico and South America. The species has since spread north, especially in the northeastern United States; Audubon suggests planted multiflora rose may have helped.

The IUCN's 2025 global assessment lists it as Least Concern, with about 43 million birds (Partners in Flight 2020) and a Breeding Bird Survey decline of 13 to 18 percent over three generations. The causes are uncertain: possibly reforestation of farmland and larger farms with less edge habitat, and exposure to lead and other contaminants in human-dominated areas.