General Description: Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) are large, sexually monomorphic, gray birds with two white wingbars and a moderately long bill. The wings have large white patches that show in flight and sometimes when they are foraging on the ground flicking their wings to startle insects.

Taxonomy: Passeriformes, Mimidae.

Favored Habitat: Urban landscapes and desert scrub.

Where to Find: Around Las Vegas, look for Northern Mockingbirds in residential areas around town and in desert areas such as Corn Creek and the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve.

Comments: These are the birds that sing long, wonderful songs in the middle of the night and keep people awake.

Northern Mockingbirds are mimics, that is, they mimic the sounds they hear around them. Male Mockingbirds determine status by singing where the “best” male sings the most songs of other species (and other sounds such as car alarms) and sings them most realistically. As such, they need to practice all year to be at the top of their game when breeding season rolls around. Mockingbirds bother some people when they sing all night long, but I like hearing them singing in the darkness as I fall asleep.