Northern Mockingbird

Mimus polyglottos Linnaeus
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

Common to abundant resident throughout campus, nesting and foraging in a variety of habitat types. Did not occur on campus historically, but populations from southern California expanded northward throughout this century. One on campus in 1893 may have been the first record from the San Francisco Bay area.
  
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
F
I: 12-13 DAYS
ALTRICIAL
TREE
3 feet - 10 feet
(0.5 foot - 20 feet)
MF
3-5
 (2-6)
 MONOG
F: 11-13 DAYS
 MF
FRUIT
FOLIAGE GLEAN
BREEDING: Habitat generalist: wide range of open and partly open habitats, abundant in suburbs. 2 broods, occ 3 or 4.
DISPLAYS: Male and female perform mating "dance" facing each other with heads and tails high, darting at each other and retreating; may also serve as territorial display, often occurring between males.
NEST: Usu in conif or decid shrub, also occ in vines; of twigs, lined with grass, rootlets. Male usu builds foundation, female lines it. Built in 4-8 days.
EGGS: Blue-green, usu heavily marked with browns. 1.0" (24 mm).
DIET: Includes crayfish, sowbugs, snails, few small vertebrates; berries. Nestlings fed mosty insects, some fruit.
CONSERVATION: In winter largely resident; few migrate s to s Mexico, Bahamas, Greater Antilles. Rare Brown-headed Cowbird host, occ Bronzed Cowbird host.
NOTES: Uses songs and calls of other birds; unmated males sing more than mated males, only unmated males sing at night in spring. Vigorously defends territory against many other species. Long-term pair bond; polygyny and polyandry rare. Young brooded up to 4 days, almost entirely by female. Male assumes feeding of fledglings while female renests. Conspicuous "wing-flashing" ostensibly functions to stir up insects and to distract predators, esp snakes. Sexes often defend separate winter feeding territories.
ESSAYS: Vocal Copying; Vocal Development; Natural Selection; Bathing and Dusting; Birds, DNA, and Evolutionary Convergence; Visual Displays.
REFERENCES: Breitwisch and Whitesides, 1987; Breitwisch et al., 1986; Laskey, 1962; Logan, 1983.

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Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).