User talk:AJAllen37

THE NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD

The northern mockingbird is one of more than about thirty different kinds of mockingbirds. It is about the size of your average everyday robin but is a little bit skinnier than a robin, so that means it is not too big for our outdoor classroom. Its upper body is gray and the lower part of its body is grayish-white and has white wing patches and white outer-tail feathers. The male and the female look almost exactly alike, but the female most of the time is smaller than the male and has slightly darker outer-tail feathers. The northern mockingbird eats insects and other small animals, like lizards, snails, and sow bugs, and they also eat fruits and berries. A cool behavior that mockingbirds do is called wing flashing. The reason that it does this is to stir up insects so that it can find out where they are. It’s mostly seen as it runs on the ground looking for insects. The mockingbird stops and spreads both wings at the same time, for a short time revealing the white wing patches. Mockingbirds nest in bushes, trees, and plantings around buildings. That means they would be great for our outdoor classroom. Their nest consists of dead twigs, grasses and weeds. The female lays three to five light blue eggs that hatch in eleven to fourteen days.