Northern mockingbirds are usually monogamous. However, occasionally one male will mate with more than two females. Male and female breeding pairs usually stay together for a whole breeding season, and sometimes for many years.
Males choose a territory and then try to attract a female to mate there. There are three courtship displays that males use to attract female. The male may chase the female through the territory while singing, or her may run around on branches, showing the female where a nest could be built. Males also perform a “flight display”. In the “flight display”, males sing while flying a few meters into the air and then falling slowly back down. This display shows off their white wing patches to the female.
Mating System: monogamous
Northern mockingbirds breed in spring and early summer. Their nests are cup-shaped and are made of twigs, cotton, dry leaves, stems, paper, grass and other organic material. The nests are built in shrubs and trees up to 50 feet above the ground.
The female lays two to six eggs (average 4 eggs). The eggs are about 24 mm long and 18 mm wide. They are blue or greenish with brown or reddish spots. Female mockingbirds incubate the eggs, males do not. The eggs hatch after 11 to 14 days. The chicks are helpless when they hatch. However, they grow quickly and can leave the nest after 10 to 12 days. When the chicks leave the nest, the male continues to feed them and teaches them to fly. The female begins building a new nest for the next brood of eggs. The fledglings become independent from their parents when they are 10 to 15 days old. They may begin breeding when they are one year old. Northern mockingbirds can raise 2 to 4 broods each year.
Breeding interval: Northern mockingbirds can have 2 to 4 broods a year.
Breeding season: Breeding occurs in the spring and early summer.
Range eggs per season: 2 to 6.
Range time to hatching: 11 to 14 days.
Range fledging age: 10 to 12 days.
Range time to independence: 10 to 15 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 1 years.
Key Reproductive Features: seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); fertilization
Average eggs per season: 4.
Females incubate the eggs, males do not. When the eggs hatch, the female and male both feed and protect the helpless chicks. After the chicks leave the nest, the female begins to build a new nest for a second brood. During this time, the male teaches the chicks to fly and feeds them.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement; altricial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Male, Protecting: Male)