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Northern Mockingbird Is State Bird of Florida

By  //  August 10, 2013

official state bird of Florida

Full of personality, the mockingbird earns its name mimicking other birds, insects, animals and even human noises - like a car alarm! A male can learn up to 200 songs during its life, but the females rarely sing. (Photos by Rogue Eye Photography)
Full of personality, the mockingbird earns its name mimicking other birds, insects, animals and even human noises – like a car alarm! A male can learn up to 200 songs during its life, but the females rarely sing. (Photos by Rogue Eye Photography)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — The official state bird of Florida is the northern mockingbird, as designated by our legislature on April 23, 1927.

Mockingbird
Mockingbirds are quite common throughout the state and found in almost every habitat, including towns, suburbs, backyards, parks, forest edges and open land at low elevations. Mockingbirds eat mainly insects in the summer. During the fall and winter months they switch to mostly fruit and have been observed drinking sap from the cuts on recently pruned trees. (Photos by Rogue Eye Photography)

Full of personality, the mockingbird earns its name mimicking other birds, insects, animals and even human noises – like a car alarm! A male can learn up to 200 songs during its life, but the females rarely sing.

If you do find a female singing, notice that it is much softer than the male. Mockingbirds are quite common throughout the state and found in almost every habitat, including towns, suburbs, backyards, parks, forest edges and open land at low elevations. Mockingbirds eat mainly insects in the summer. During the fall and winter months they switch to mostly fruit and have been observed drinking sap from the cuts on recently pruned trees. Both the female and male take on the nesting duties.

Nests are typically a bulky, open cup of grass and twigs that are essentially “thrown together” in a dense tree or bush. They lay three to six eggs per nest. Be careful around the mockingbird nest! If you walk too close, the mockingbird will “attack,” fiercely defending its nest and territory.

For more information about the northern mockingbird visit AllAboutBirds.org

BELOW VIDEO: Mockingbirds can recognize,and attack, an individual  person from a parade of people walking by their nest.