Northern mockingbirds in California: A guide to songs, calls and night singing

Northern mockingbirds live in California year-round. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife's (CDFW) California Wildlife Habitat Relationships account describes the species as a common to abundant resident through much of California, mostly below 1,000 feet. It breeds along the coast from Mendocino County to San Diego County and throughout the Central Valley, and it is common on the southern coast and interior and fairly common in the southern deserts. It is most abundant in towns, orchards and vineyards, especially suburbs planted with exotic shrubs and trees.

The mockingbird is not a listed species. It is protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and by state law, which also protects its nests and eggs.

This guide covers how to identify a northern mockingbird, where it lives in California, what it eats and how it nests, its song and mimicry, the reason some mockingbirds sing at night, its legal status and the birds it is most often confused with. It is part of our guide to the birds of California.

Northern mockingbird at a glance

Sources: CBRC checklist (September 8, 2026); CDFW CWHR account B393; Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds; California Fish and Game Code; 50 CFR 10.13.

Northern mockingbird identification: A slim gray songbird with white wing patches:

The California Bird Records Committee's checklist lists the species as Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos. It is a slender, long-tailed songbird about the size of a robin, 8.3 to 10.2 inches long with a wingspan of 12.2 to 13.8 inches, and it weighs 1.6 to 2.0 ounces, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds identification page. It has a small head, long legs and a long, thin bill with a slight downward curve.

The plumage is plain gray-brown above and paler below, with two white wingbars. The best marks show in flight, when a large white patch flashes in each wing and the white outer tail feathers stand out. A perched bird often shows part of the wing patch too. Young mockingbirds have spotted breasts.

Behavior helps as much as plumage. Mockingbirds perch in the open on treetops, fences, eaves and wires, and they run and hop across lawns. They often raise their wings in jerky steps to show the white patches, a display called wing flashing. They are found alone or in pairs all year and chase other birds out of their territory.

Northern mockingbirds in California: Year-round in the lowlands and most abundant in suburbs:

CDFW's habitat account places most California mockingbirds below 1,000 feet. They breed in the coastal region from Mendocino County south to San Diego County and throughout the Central Valley. They are common on the southern coast and in the southern interior and fairly common in the southern deserts. To the north, as far as the Owens Valley, they are less common and local and appear to leave those areas in winter.

Natural habitats include chaparral, foothill woodland and streamside woodland, pinyon-juniper, desert scrub and desert washes. The species is abundant in towns, orchards and vineyards, especially in suburbs with exotic shrubs and trees. It needs open ground for foraging and high perches for spotting prey and for singing. CDFW's account notes that the range has spread north and west as settlement and cultivation increased. Most mockingbirds stay put all year, though some wander in fall and winter.

Northern mockingbird diet, territory and nesting: Insects in spring, berries in winter:

In the breeding season mockingbirds eat mostly insects, earthworms and snails, dropping from a perch to take prey on the ground, gleaning from leaves and catching insects in the air. In the nonbreeding season they eat more berries and other small fruits. A mockingbird often defends a winter territory built around a berry or fruit source, and a male and female may defend separate feeding territories in winter. They frequent olive and other orchards and ornamental plantings.

Mockingbirds are aggressive toward other species all year. In a residential area of Pasadena, breeding territories averaged about 1 acre, CDFW's account reports, and winter territories there were smaller. A pair bond may last several years.

The breeding season in California runs from mid-February to late September, with a peak in May and June. The nest sits in a shrub, small tree or tangle of vines, often less than 6 feet off the ground and occasionally as high as 40 feet. A clutch holds three to six eggs, most often four or five. The female incubates for 11 to 14 days, both parents feed the young and the young leave the nest at 12 to 14 days. Pairs frequently raise two broods a season.

Northern mockingbird songs and calls: Long runs of repeated phrases and borrowed sounds:

The mockingbird's song is a long string of phrases, with each phrase repeated two to six times before the bird moves on, and a single song can run 20 seconds or more. Many phrases are whistled, but the songs also include rasps, scolds and trills. Mockingbirds copy the sounds of birds and frogs around them, including shrikes, blackbirds, orioles, killdeer, jays and hawks, and they keep adding new sounds throughout their lives. Cornell notes that a listener may hear 10 to 15 species imitated by one mockingbird in a single bout and that a male may learn about 200 songs in his lifetime. Both males and females sing, though females usually sing more quietly.

The calls are simpler. A harsh, dry "chew" is used when mobbing predators near the nest or chasing other mockingbirds, and a series of short, scratchy "chat" notes warns off intruders. Recordings of the song and calls are on the All About Birds northern mockingbird sounds page.

Mockingbirds singing at night: Mostly unmated males:

Mockingbirds sing through the day and often into the night. The birds singing after dark are mostly males without a mate. "Unmated males are the most insistent singers, carrying on late all day and late into the night," the Cornell Lab says. Night singing is more common under a full moon, according to Cornell's overview page.

Mockingbirds typically sing from February through August and again from September to early November, Cornell says, and a male may have separate spring and fall song collections. Females rarely sing in summer but sing more in the fall, possibly to set up a winter territory.

Northern mockingbird legal status in California: A protected nongame songbird:

The northern mockingbird is not listed as threatened or endangered under state or federal law, and Cornell rates it of low conservation concern. It is on the federal list of migratory birds at 50 CFR 10.13, which brings it under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Fish and Game Code section 3513 makes it unlawful to take or possess any bird on that federal list except as federal rules allow. As a native bird that is not a game bird, the mockingbird is also a nongame bird under section 3800.

Section 3503 protects nests and eggs. It makes it unlawful to take, possess or needlessly destroy the nest or eggs of any bird except as the code or its regulations allow. Mockingbird nests are often low in shrubs and vines, and the nesting season runs from February to September.

Similar species to the northern mockingbird: Shrikes, thrashers, catbirds and the Townsend's solitaire:

Cornell's similar-species list for the mockingbird includes the loggerhead shrike, northern shrike, sage thrasher, Townsend's solitaire, gray catbird and blue-gray gnatcatcher. By sound, Cornell notes, a brown thrasher's phrases are less varied and usually repeated only two or three times, and a gray catbird's phrases sound more nasal, rushed and slurred. Mockingbirds repeat each phrase two to six times, so counting the repeats is a useful clue.

Northern mockingbirds in California: A year-round suburban singer:

Northern mockingbirds are year-round residents of lowland California, most common below 1,000 feet and most abundant in suburbs, orchards and vineyards. They nest from mid-February to late September and defend fruit-filled territories in winter. Their long, repetitive songs borrow from the birds around them, and the ones heard after dark are mostly unmated males. They are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Fish and Game Code, which also protects their nests and eggs.