Last updated on September 7th, 2022 at 11:57 pm
California mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) are perennial residents throughout the state. It’s one of the most common backyard birds, but it doesn’t have the same feeding habits as the many granivorous species you may be familiar with.
California mockingbirds eat arthropods, insects, berries, and fruits. The songbird loves wild berries, but it also likes cultivated fruits. They also eat suet and mealworms. However, the species is only drawn to suitable bird feeders, such as trays.
1. California Mockingbirds Eat Arthropods
Most California mockingbirds eat arthropods and insects in the spring through summer but then switch to berries and fruits during fall and winter.
But all California mockingbirds are omnivorous.
Here are a few arthropods that California mockingbirds eat:
- Butterflies
- Moths
- Snails
- Sowbugs
- Spiders
The species doesn’t eat poisonous arachnids or spiders, and snails aren’t a part of their staple diet.
However, California mockingbirds eat earthworms, albeit they are zoologically classified as annelids, not arthropods.
In late spring, the popular songbird tends to gorge on arthropods and insects, especially if their fall and winter diets are totally fruitarian.
2. Berries Are Great For Mockingbirds
California mockingbirds love berries. Ripe wild berries are akin to a treasure trove for this mimic, which is quite protective of its stash.
However, such a behavioral characteristic is also rooted in its territorial nature, which makes the California mockingbird an aggressive species.
The California mockingbird isn’t a picky eater, and it certainly doesn’t fuss about the type of ripe berries.
They are drawn to most wild berries, including the following:
- Black elderberry (Sambucus melanocarpa)
- Blue elderberry (Sambucus Mexicana)
- California coffeeberry (Frangula californica)
- California holly or toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)
- California wild grape (Vitis californica)
- California wild rose (Rosa californica)
- Fuchsia flowered gooseberry (Ribes speciosum)
- Hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia)
- Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum)
- Manzanitas (Arctostaphylos)
- Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
- Wax myrtle (Morella californica)
- Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca)
All these berries are native species in California, but some are endemic to the state.
You may already have a few of these berries growing in your garden or backyard.
Such plants naturally draw the California mockingbird, and the mimic will likely mark its territory.
Once the bird finds a stash of ripe berries, it perches in the shrubs to eat berries.
While it may frequent other feeding havens, it’s unlikely to let go of the wild treasure.
The California mockingbird can chase other birds away if its food or territory is threatened.
Also, the California mockingbird eats a few fruits that are commonly referred to as berries:
- Blackberries
- Mulberries
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
Furthermore, California mockingbirds eat some berries that are poisonous to people, such as:
- Holly berries
- Ivy berries
- Mistletoe
- Poison oak
- Pokeweed berries
- Yew berries
3. Birders Use Fruits In Their Feeders
The California mockingbird is more likely to eat berries than fruits in the wild. However, the species doesn’t mind fruits, whether wild or cultivated.
Birders interested in attracting the mimic to their gardens or backyard feeders may slice some fresh, ripe fruits and serve them on a flat tray or on the ground.
California mockingbirds aren’t fond of tube feeders, and instead, are ground foragers. You’ll need to provide any food accordingly.
The California mockingbirds are known to eat the following fruits:
- Apples
- Bananas
- Figs
- Grapes
- Tomatoes
Interestingly, grapes and tomatoes aren’t just fruits. They’re botanically classified as berries, as are bananas.
Also, figs aren’t exactly a fruit. Ficus carica or figs are aggregate fruit, also known as inflorescence.
Figs in their fruiting stage are an infructescence.
Like berries, fruits are primarily a part of the California mockingbird’s fall and winter diet.
You may use either or both if you want the species to serenade at or around your property.
4. Insects Are an Important Part Of Their Diet
Insects are an essential part of the California mockingbird’s spring and summer diet.
In fact, the bird almost exclusively eats arthropods, including insects, from late spring.
The species’ favorite insects are:
- Ants
- Bees
- Beetles
- Crickets
- Grasshoppers
- Wasps
The California mockingbird has two distinct ways of foraging for insects.
It walks and runs on the ground, capturing insects and eating them.
The bird is often seen hopping along lawns or open grounds with grass, hedges, or shrubby vegetation, looking for various arthropods and insects.
The species’ second method of searching for and hunting insects is perching at a low branch or platform, locating a potential prey, and swooping down to the ground to pick up its food.
But both methods involve these birds eating or picking up prey from the ground.
California mockingbirds are known to eat small lizards and crayfish at times. However, these are not the bird’s staple foods.
5. Suet Is the Mockingbird’s Best Friend
The California mockingbird is the same northern mockingbird species (Mimus polyglottos) found throughout the country.
The omnivorous bird loves to eat insects and arthropods. It’s drawn to suet, especially in the winter when some insects or arthropods may be scarce in the wild.
The songbird has also been found to eat tree sap.
But that’s only when there are pruned trees with sap oozing from the cuts.
The California mockingbird doesn’t have the ability of sapsuckers to drill holes and draw the sap out from a live tree.
The other type of food that the northern mockingbird loves is multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), or its berries, to be specific, which isn’t a native species of California.
There is some isolated multiflora rose ranges in the state, but you shouldn’t bring this invasive weed to your backyard.
Here are a few foods you can use to entice a California mockingbird to your backyard or garden:
- Berries (ripe)
- Fruits (sliced)
- Mealworms
- Peanuts (crushed)
- Ornamental bushes
- Suet (balls or plugs)
If you have to use a bird feeder, get something like this Woodlink Audubon 3-in-1 Platform from Amazon.com.
This handcrafted platform feeder made of cedar has a 3-pound capacity.
You may load it up with any type of bird food, including seeds, but don’t mix seeds with suet when you plan to attract a California mockingbird.
Use only suet and dried mealworms. You may add crushed peanuts.
More importantly, the 3-in-1 feeder has collapsible legs. You can keep it on the ground for the California mockingbird, hang the bird feeder, or mount it on a pole.
Sometimes, the mimic might visit a hanging or pole-mounted platform feeder.