Northern Mockingbird
A great deal of folklore is associated with this bird. In legends of the Pueblo people of the Southwest, a mockingbird granted humans the gift of speech. According to black folklore in the antebellum South, the mockingbird was a keeper of supernatural wisdom. In legends from Tennessee and North Carolina, a mockingbird sitting on your chimney and singing at night meant that someone in the house was going to die. If you heard it singing nearby all night, it meant that trouble was on the way. However, hearing it on a moonlit night meant that you would discover something that would make you happy. If an unmarried woman saw one fly over her, it was a sign that she would marry within the year.
Mockingbirds are rarely intimidated by animals or larger birds. In fact, they have been known to attack eagles. If they feel threatened by a cat, dog, or other terrestrial animal, they will harass it with dive-bombing maneuvers. Despite their wily reputations, these birds have been kept as pets, and they have captured people’s imaginations. Mockingbirds have cropped up in songs such as the traditional lullaby “Hush Little Baby” and the mid-nineteenth-century popular song “Listen to the Mockingbird.” A century later, the latter song was the theme for the cartoon birds Heckle and Jeckle, even though they were supposed to be magpies.
The mockingbird’s scientific name, Mimus polyglottos, is Latin for “mimic” and “many-tongued,” respectively.97 These names are due to the bird’s ability to mimic sounds—not only other birds but crickets, frogs, and even machinery and car alarms. Mockingbirds continually add new sounds to their repertoires throughout their lives. Erroneously believed to master the song of other birds, only about ten percent of the mockingbird’s song is imitation of other bird’s melodies; the rest is improvisation. They tend to sing loudest during twilight hours and sometimes during the full moon.
Magical Workings
Mockingbird is a creature of communication and imagination that can help stoke your creativity and help you find your unique method of expression. It can help you find the power of your voice and use it to foster understanding in those around you. Call on this bird to guide you through challenging experiences and to help you gain the most knowledge from them.
Mockingbird can boost spells for courage or aid you anytime you need to overcome fear. It can also be called upon for protection, especially for the home. Include this bird in personal rituals when seeking harmony in an intimate relationship. Honor this bird, which likes to sing during the full moon, at your esbat rituals.
Make Connection
To connect with mockingbird energy, sing like one, or more appropriately, improvise like one. During morning or evening twilight or a full moon, place a picture of a mockingbird on your altar and sit quietly while gazing at it. When you are ready, begin singing one of the mockingbird songs if you know them. If you are not familiar with them, choose a song that you feel relates to the mockingbird. Even if you don’t know the complete tune or all the words, let your imagination take the lead and let the song evolve. You may begin to feel that your creativity is being guided. This is a sign that mockingbird has joined you.
Associations
Element(s): Air, fire
Bird Identification
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
Size: 8 to 10 inches
Wingspan: 12 to 14 inches
Comparative size: Robin
Description: Slender body; gray-brown upperparts; pale to whitish breast, belly, and underparts; small head; long, thin bill with a very slight downward curve; short, broad wings with two white wing bars; white patch under each wing can be seen in flight; long tail with white outer feathers
Range: Throughout the lower forty-eight states and into Mexico
Habitat: Open grassy areas in fields, parks, or suburbs with shrubby vegetation and fruiting bushes
Eggs: Pale blue or greenish-white with red or brown splotches
Collective noun(s): An echo, an exactness, or an impression of mockingbirds
97. Murphy-Hiscock, Birds: A Spiritual Field Guide, 120.