Mockingbirds are very territorial. They are also great native birds to have around. Even if you could, I would not discourage them from being in your yard as they have a job to do just like the bluebirds do. If they have been reinforced by getting mealworms so far, you will have to do something to extinguish their behavior. One basic tenet of behavior is "unrewarded behavior eventually extinguishes itself." So, if you make it impossible for them to get any mealworms for a while, they will eventually stop defending the feeder and move on. One way to do this is to stop feeding the mealworms. The bluebirds don't need the mealworms. The mockingbirds will move on if they don't get any mealworms for a while. Another way you can do this is to create a feeder that will not allow the mockingbird to feed from it. A feeder that has holes that are too small for the mockingbird to fit in but will allow smaller birds into it would work to accomplish this. I will include a link to some plans. The thing that you will have to do is to train the bluebirds to recognize the new feeder. This will be hard when they are competing with the mockingbirds. You have to link the two feeders in their minds by gradually changing the feeder over so that the bluebirds connect the worms with the new feeder. The only way to do this is to have the new feeder open for a few days until the blues find them. Like I said this will be hard to do when the mockingbird is chasing them away, so I would stop feeding mealworms for a few weeks and then try this and see if the mockingbird forgets about it and moves on to a new source of food. The other thing you may have a problem with at some point are hawks that will notice the concentration of song birds at the feeder. This seems to be a bigger problem when you feed seeds as you have many more birds frequenting that kind of feeder. This also creates other problems besides hawks, like disease. I have seen enough people end up with hawk problems from artificial feeding to warn you that it could be the next problem you are facing. Hawks are a necessary part of the system as the bluebirds and the mockers, so you should be happy to have them all. The berry bushes in your yard are a natural way to feed everyone, but they double as cover that helps to protect the birds from the larger predators giving them a fighting chance. Just something to think about when you consider artifical feeding. Here is a link that might be useful: mealworm feeder

Yes, I get mobs of TRES and I worry each time they will ovewehlm the other birds but they don't. In my yard I have two boxes paired (about 30 feet apart) on the east side of the house, then in the back yard I have two boxes paired on the west side of the house and in the front yard I have two boxes paired on the west side. The boxes on the east are sortof in sight of the boxes in the back west side (a big tree is inbetween) and are about 68 yards from them. The pairs of boxes in the front west are in sight of the boxes in the back west and are about 64 yards apart. I normally have three or four pairs of TRES nesting and a pair of Blues and sometimes a pair of Dees too in our yard. Then I have three boxes at the back of our lot, not in sight of any of the yard boxes and are over 100 yard away from the yard boxes, these normally have two pairs of TRES and one pair of Blues. Then about a half mile away is a park where I had five (now seven) nestboxes. I normally have two or three pairs of TRES and a pair of Blues, may be different this year with the extra two boxes. So as you can see we have lots and lots of TRES in the area. They were mobbing the Blues yesterday but mom is incubating what I think are five eggs so I am not too worried about the TRES this year since the Blues are so far ahead. Weather has been pretty cool here lately so the TRES aren't real serious yet. Last year the TRES kept chasing away the Dees from the paired box (TRES wanted one and the Dees had started a nest in the other). I added a sparrow spooker and the TRES just used it as a perch. The TRES didn't deter the Dees at all though and once the Dees laid their first egg, I added a wren guard. By this time the TRES were nestbuilding so they weren't worried about the paired box anymore. Good luck, hope yours Blues renest! Donna

I'm sorry to hear that Liza! We have too many of them here! The blues have 1 or rarely 2 pairs locally seen and then we get a swarm (5-6 TRES) near a box with the main pair defending it's box and territory. And Kendra, at my paired sight there is a lake on the next property over and 3 on the property behind it. Site #2 has lakes but you have to move a few properties away. Okay so I was there again today. Swallow pair #1 has a completed nest so that box is locked up. At box #2 I approached to see Mr and Mrs. blue perched on the fence behind it. But of course later on I was again dive bombed. (so annoying! I just stood there in protest) Only a couple of pieces of grass in the box. I still haven't decided. Do I wait to see if the blues win out or double it up? I like the TRES, but it's really irritating that everywhere I go for bluebirds the swallows want every box and always seem to outnumber the blues. It doesn't make any sense. Even Dorene Scriven's "bluebird trails" mentions bluebirders giving up hope of having boxes only for the bluebirds. Ever since waging all out war on the HOSP the TRES have shown up. They can't steal a box from the HOSP but if it concerns the bluebirds, of course! They decide to come take it. UGH! The things just irritate the heck out of me! And this property has hardly any space for multiple boxes. There's too many trees and a fence in my way. Ugh. rather depressing nesting season. I've had enough of these TRES.

I've been fortunate enough to have a pair of mockingbirds in my backyard year around for several years. They are very protective of their territory, especially to other mockingbirds. Every year, they raise two or three offspring, but run them off soon after they fledge. The only other birds they seem to tolerate are a pair of white wing doves that nest in a youpon holly tree. Maybe because the doves don't compete for the same food source. They go nuts in the spring when the flocks of Cedar Waxwings come through and strip off the remaining winter youpon holly berries, which is the mockingbirds main food source in winter. They are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Waxwings, but just complain loudly. The most interesting thing is they mate for life, but go through a re-bonding ritual every spring. They face each other on the ground about 2 feet apart, and the male will hop forward and place a youpon berry on the ground, then hop back. The female then hops forward, picks up the berry and hops back. They do this several times a day until they finally go off and build a new nest and lay eggs.