This article was published in the May 2018 issue of The Beacon.
I love hearing Northern Mockingbirds give full throat to their wildly varied bird songs. Around mid winter each year they begin singing again in our area of Southwest Florida to brighten up my morning bicycle rides. While I realize that each bird’s series of songs are mostly derivative, copied as they are from other songbirds or sounds they hear, there is such a joy to them that they never fail to bring a smile to my face. I also acknowledge that there may be some who do not share my enthusiasm for these tunes, in particular those who like to sleep in a little later each morning or are otherwise disturbed by this occasional nocturnal warbler. It is the males which are the most active songsters, and they are most vocal when seeking a mate. The good news is that they are mostly monogamous so once they find their partner the noise abates. They can string together as many as ten different sounds in one song series and have the ability to learn over one hundred sounds in their lifetimes. In this regard they are similar to their close cousins the Thrashers and Catbirds.
As the State Bird of Florida, and four other states (Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas), the Northern Mockingbird deserves an honored role in our community, even though there have been efforts by some to change the Florida state bird to the endemic, elusive and threatened Scrub Jay. Only the regal Cardinal has more states claiming it as their own (7). At one time in the early nineteenth century Mockingbirds were very popular as caged songbirds and sold for substantial sums of money. Thomas Jefferson apparently had one named “Dick”.
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Northern Mockingbirds are gray-brown on top and light gray underneath with a large white patch on each wing and white outer tail feathers that are easy to spot when they fly. Their bills are black and curved a little bit downward. They have long tails, and short, rounded wings. Males are 22 to 25.5 cm long and weigh about 51 g. and are slightly larger than females (www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/northern-mockingbird). Their diet is about half insects and half berries and they have an important role as seed dispersers. They nest in trees where they lay 2 to 6 eggs several times per year and have to watch out for predator hawks, owls and snakes.
As part of my effort to learn more about this bird I felt that I had an obligation to read that classic of American literature “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. While growing up and then raising my own children in Canada, this book was not on the required reading lists in our schools. Although I was vaguely aware of its southern setting, race relations theme and somewhat controversial subject matter, I had not read it before and was curious about the significance of the title. The mockingbird only features explicitly twice in the book and both times as symbolism for the innocent or under-privileged in society (Tom Robinson, Boo and lost childhood innocence in general). It is interesting that the Mockingbird is used as this symbol as it is fiercely protective of its nests and territory, while simultaneously being a productive and entertaining part of the natural world.