The Northern Mockingbird

Winter is a great time to go out and see what birds you can find! Not all birds migrate during the winter (although some migrate down from the upper north to visit us during the winter months) and those who stay can start a great foundation on the start of a birding year-list (I'm up to 27 so far this year). With the bare trees, it's easy to notice any unusual movement or fluttering, that's how I spotted this Northern Mockingbird pretending it was a snowball at Barnes Preserve. 
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• Northern Mockingbirds hang out year round but they're most noticeable in the spring/summer months when they are their most vocal.
• These great singers can learn up to 200 unique sounds! 
• In the 1800s they were regularly kept as pets due to their large vocal range, this however, brought them to near extinction on the East Coast. 
• Northern Mockingbirds eat mainly insects in summer but switch to eating mostly fruit in fall and winter.
  
• Unmated males are the most insistent singers, carrying on late all day and late into the night.
  
• Both male and female mockingbirds sing. They often mimic the sounds of birds (and frogs) around them, including shrikes, blackbirds, orioles, killdeer, jays, hawks, and many others. They go on learning new sounds throughout their lives.​