About 17 species of New World songbirds, known for loudly copying other birds, insects and frogs. The northern mockingbird, the only common one in North America, is grey with white wing patches and common in towns. Other species live in the Caribbean, South America and the Galápagos.
Quick answers
What is it?Bird
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Daytime
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inNorth America, South America
HabitatTowns, Forest
ColoursGrey, White, Black
SizeSmall
Length20.5–28 cm (northern mockingbird)
Weight40–58 g (northern mockingbird)
Legs2
Covered inFeathers
Lives inpairs
Lives for8–20 years
Can fly
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- The Americas. The northern mockingbird breeds from south-eastern Canada through the US and Mexico to the Greater Antilles, and was introduced to Hawaii.
- What it eats
- Insects, spiders, earthworms, berries, fruit and seeds: mostly animal prey in the breeding season and fruit in autumn and winter.
Did you know
Can learn up to about 200 song types, and copies car alarms and squeaky wheels.
Mockingbirds can recognise individual people who have threatened their nest.
They are known for singing late at night, even past midnight.
Often confused with
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