Tag Archives: mockingbird

Field Notes

The everywhere bird- A Northern Mockingbird in NC

By Sally Siko

I can’t remember the last time I went out birding and didn’t see a Northern Mockingbird flying around. These guys seem to be everywhere.
This was the case when I spotted this handsome while birding at the Pocosin Lakes NWR in eastern NC.
He landed just a few feet away from me while I was photographing some swans and watched intently as I took my shots.
Every now and again he’d cock his head to the side when I’d talk to him as if he had an important thing to share with me lol!



Though I spotted this one in a wild environment, Northern Mockingbirds are a common sight here in the backyards and shopping center parking lots of central North Carolina.
The suburban landscape provides suitable (if not ideal!) habitat for Mockingbirds: dense shrubbery, open spaces, scattered trees and plenty of berry bushes.


Well known for their boisterous singing, Mockingbirds learn their songs from other birds, animals, and even machines around them. They’ll belt out their playlists round and round, a wheel of chirps, chortles, squawks and trills that dominate the local airwaves.
With age and experience, they keep learning new songs too, ever adding to an expanding repertoire at a surprisingly fast rate.Males, the louder and more relentless singers, may learn up to 200 songs in their lives! Their musical variety, then, can attract long-term mates who know that they have been around for a while and thus have the right stuff to survive.
Pretty cool huh?

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5

Field Notes, Out There with the Expert

A Northern Mocking bird at Yates Mill Park, Raleigh N.C.

By: Sally Siko

Northern mockingbirds are notoriously chatty!
Starting just before dawn, their vocal performances can stretch on into the night hours. They are renowned as skilled copycats, often mimicking other birds and can even replicate sounds such as those of ringing cell phones, human whistling and car alarms.
Male northern mockingbirds without mates are particularly noisy. An adult male mockingbird can emit up to 200 distinctive notes.
In addition, Mockingbirds do indeed have songs of their own included on their playlists. Their repertoire includes incorporating melodies of their own creation that are not directly taken from other avian species.



Although they are quite common here in Raleigh NC, I couldn’t resist grabbing a few portraits of this one at Yates Mill Park today.
This one was acting a bit peculiar as he was sitting quietly in a bush, not worrying one bit about me as I took a few photos of him from just a few steps away.
He didn’t seem stressed or sick, just quiet and relaxed. Usually these birds fly away when I approach them with my cameras in hand.
It was cool to get a good look at this handsome one up close 🙂 Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
Canon 5Ds

Field Notes

Mockingbird songs in Fuquay Varina, N.C.

Found a sassy Mockingbird singing it’s heart out in a parking lot in Fuquay Varina N.C. while I stopped to get gas on my way out to birding at another location. He was so loud, lol!



A common sight here in central North Carolina, suburbia often provides suitable habitat for Mockingbirds: dense shrubbery, open spaces, scattered trees and plenty of berry bushes.
Well known for their boisterous singing, Mockingbirds learn their songs from other birds, animals, and even machines around them.
They sing their playlists round and round, a wheel of chirps, chortles, squawks and trills that dominate the local soundwaves. With age and experience, they keep learning new songs.
Males, the louder and more relentless singers, may learn up to 200 songs in their lives. Their musical variety, then, can attract long-term mates who know that they have been around and have the stuff to survive.

Photo by @sally_siko
Canon 5Ds