Northern Mockingbirds, while widely considered pest birds, are extremely useful residents in your neighbourhood, and feed largely on insects in summer, including beetles, earthworms, moths, butterflies, ants, bees, wasps, grasshoppers, and sometimes small lizards. They also love berries, especially from ornamental bushes such as hawthorn, dogwood, juniper, sumac, honeysuckle, and rose hips, and have been observed drinking sap from recently pruned trees. Because of their reliance on insects, be sure to use organic methods to maintain your lawn, and do not use pesticides or fertilizers.

Northern Mockingbirds build nests in shrubs and trees, usually from three to ten feet from the ground, although nests have been spotted as high as sixty feet in large trees. Northern Mockingbirds raise two broods per year, and do not reuse their nests from year to year, which means that other species of birds who look for previously built nests will find Northern Mockingbirds beneficial neighbours.

Northern Mockingbirds are noted, above all else, for their song. They can imitate sounds they hear: not only songs of other species of birds, but squeaking hinges, barking dogs, and other sounds, and learn new songs all their lives. Older Northern Mockingbirds have been recorded who knew two hundred songs, and I heard one in a tree once that went through over seventy different songs without a repeat. Northern Mockingbirds are territorial, and so will sing all day, and unmated males may sing all through the night, as well.

Northern Mockingbirds love thick bushes, and also like to perch high on trees, posts, wires, or other high places to defend their territory. While the Northern Mockingbird can be aggressive to other kinds of wild birds, they are also useful neighbours, driving off predators much larger than themselves, even well away from nesting areas. I have seen Northern Mockingbirds gang up on a coyote to drive it away from their feeding areas, even at times of the year when they were not nesting.

Northern Mockingbirds can be very fun to watch, as long as it is not your cat or dog that is being dive-bombed to keep it away from its food. Northern Mockingbirds are extremely useful at chasing off nuisance squirrels, and occasionally indulge in wing flashing displays, although no one has been able to figure out why.

By providing suitable grassy areas for Northern Mockingbirds to hunt, and berries for winter and their preferred nesting places, you can encourage these fun and feisty wild birds into your backyard, where you can enjoy their songs and antics all year.