I saw the mockingbird eating the cut up pieces of dates this morning! I bought a pkg of mixed dried berries and am soaking them to put out later.

Since there has been the overwhelming interest in feeding mockingbirds (just kidding!!!) thought it only fair to post a picture of one of them sunning on the Youpon holly hedge as they do every morning. This one just had a breakfeast of cut of grapes. Click to enlarge:

Hi Roselee,
He's just a little puffball today, isn't he?

To my surprise, since I moved to the country, I rarely see mockingbirds. I had lots when I lived in suburbia and they loved the yaupon holly berries. I do feed the cardinals, goldfinches, pine siskins, black-capped chickadees and titmice, but seeds are just so easy! Saw the first Cedar Waxwing of the season yesterday in our winter storm. There are fewer juniper berries this year also, I wonder what else they eat?

Pam

Roselee, sorry - I have been out of town. I keep suet out year round for all the birds (this includes mockingbirds) that are mainly insect eaters.

My Mockingbirds prefer cherry tomatoes, and they like 'em the day before I intend to pick 'em.
Jim

Pam I recently saw a single Cedar wax wing come to the bird bath. I usually have large flocks of them eating Ligustrum berries, but because of the drought my trees had no blooms and therefore no berries this year.

Carrie, I wondered if Mockingbirds would eat suet. Thanks for the info.

Jim, I know they also like to peck at the figs to test if they are ripe yet. :-( Not very polite -- kinda' like taking a bite out of all the pieces of chocolate in a box to find your favorite piece.

Sometimes, I mix up a batch of peanut butter and corn meal, add a few raisins, and put that out in a feeder. The mockers really like it, and so do the woodpeckers.
The mockers also go for the mahonia berries in the spring/summer. They must really like them because they don't let any other animals near "their" mahonias as long as there are berries on them.

Deb, I do the peanut butter thing also. I have cedar logs with holes in them and I hang them in the trees. I also fill the suet trays when they are empty. I use birdseed in my peanut butter mix along with the dried fruit. It doesn't last long.....

Suet is great for Mockers, as well as most birds. Mixing peanut butter, cornmeal and some type of fat (leftover bacon grease? old Crisco?) and putting it out on tree limbs or in cracks of bark will help. The easiest way to deal with this messy mix is to put the ingredients into a fairly sturdy zip lock bag, then smush it all together in the bag. Keeps your hands or spoon clean. Then snip off one corner and use that to squirt the mix into holes drilled into a log feeder or wherever.
The most attractive feeding set up I ever saw was in Japan at an inn visited by many birders. On lovely pussy willow branches arranged outside a big bay window the inn owner would place small balls of butter mixed with flour so that they looked like natural buds. Photographers could get great shots that didn't have unsightly feeders in the photo.

jim wrote, 'My Mockingbirds prefer cherry tomatoes, and they like 'em the day before I intend to pick 'em. '

Dang, I thought that was how you know your 'maters are ready - when they have a big hole knocked in them.
;-)

If you have lots of money to throw around - and who doesn't now days :+) - buy that expensive bird seed from Tractor Supply with the fruit and nuts in it. The Mockingbirds here always visit the feeders when I can afford that feed.

Roselee, your Mockingbird looks very happy. I've not tried dates before, but now I'll have to get some for my Mockers. :-)

Carla

Well, you're not the only one with spoiled Mockingbirds, Carla. There's me and a lot of others it seems. :-)

I didn't know it would be this easy. They really go for the dates and grapes. I noticed the dried berries I bought have added sugar. Don't think a regular diet would be extra good for them, but they like them too.

Thanks everybody for all the tips and howto's.

Sorry about the tommy-toes guys.

BTW, they really like figs at my house during season...(grin).

My mockingbirds are very spoiled to RAISINS! They love them! I tried making suet with raisins in it, but they just pecked the raisins out and left the rest. Give it a try!

Sherrie

When I lived in south-by-god Austin, there was always a Moker in my lantana bush and the little berries disappeared rapidly.

So I don't have to soak the raisins? Good. Nice to know they eat lantana berries, too. Thanks to you all for the many suggestions. Feeding mockingbirds was easier to do than I thought it would be.

I like to get some lard melt it and empty old dried fruit, cereals, cornmeal, peanutbutter, some flower and even some frozen chunks of fruit like mango pieces. I put the frozen fruit in last to help it all cool. Then I pour it into wax-paper lined sheet pans and chill to make suet blocks.

This year I splurged and got a feeder for finches. Haven't seen a one on it. It's got about 18 opening with little perches the fan out like little cuphooks.

I also got a block of dried corn and seeds on a chain with a spring. Thought it would be great fun to watch the squirrels bounce. The finches went for that, the squirrels here are too fat to work that hard and the snooty finch feeder is obviously yard art!

gotta love the little guys. Had a small flock of robins here this evening. One see an occasional mockingbird. yes, there are nandina and holly berries. Guess mine are waiting for tomato time too.
c

Would just like to point out that a lot of suet has been recalled, having to do with all the peanut recalls due to salmonella contamination. You may want to check the latest recall lists to make sure you aren't feeding your bird friends something that might make them sick.

I have at least one mockingbird that owns my backyard and likes to sit on the fence or the roof of the kids playhouse and watch us through the picture window. I like him. We see lots of bluejays, sparrows, finches, and the occasional cardinal pair.

The mocking birds love my Chile Pequin - which has berries (well, chiles)several times a year. I know they can be super aggressive, but I like them as well.

cynthia
I recently started feeding the finches with the 'cheap-o' sock style feeders and nyger thistle seed. In no time, they were all over it. I've had gold finches on it solid ever since. Amazing how much seed those little guys can go through!
FWIW
jd

House finches, purple finches and the like feed on larger seeds than do the gold finches. Once the hatching appear the gold finches will only eat wild seed not niger seed from feeders. Interesting that they start breeding when this natural/native seed become available.

We're in a new home (less than a year) and I've been feeding lots of birds. I haven't seen a Mockingbird in our yard, but they're in the neighborhood sitting on shrubs just like in the picture above. How likely is it that they'll visit me if I start putting out dried fruit?

I just love birds and would like as many visitors as possible.

Oh, and a great tip I got from my guy at Wild Birds...shop vac to suck up spilled seeds under feeders on the grass. This is much better than anything else I've tried!

Hi Mandib! I'm not sure how likely the mockingbirds will visit if you put out dried fruit, but I know birds in general have excellent eyesight so if you put berries and fruit out they are very likely to see it. I put it around the rim of a large birdbath and see them coming to get it and also flying to ground to get pieces that other birds have knocked down. Let us know how it goes.

Happy birding.

Mandib, I have enough ground feeders to keep mine pretty clean. Especially during the winter when the junkos and Harris sparrows are here. I have doves year round to clean up what is on the ground. Should they leave anything, the racoons finish it off at night.

They're attracted to anything that is red. I never see them at my feeders, but they always hang out in the shrubs out front w/ red berries. (Sorry, don't know that shrub.) They'll eat holly berries, yaupon holly berries, hackberries, etc. I saw one trying to eat the blooms off my bat-faced cuphea once. You could put out strawberry tops for them too. Or as mentioned, plant them their own tomato garden!