Texas State Bird – Northern Mockingbird

The Northern Mockingbird was adopted as the Texas state bird in 1927. The Mockingbird can sing up to 200 songs including the songs of other birds and sounds from insects and amphibians. It is also very protective of its home, often swooping down at things getting too close to its nest. The Texas State legislature proclaimed that the mockingbird “the most appropriate species foe the state bird of Texas, as it is found in all parts of the state, in winter and in summer, in the city and in the country, on the prairie and in the woods and hills, and is a singer of distinctive type, a fighter for the protection of his home, falling, if need be, in its defense, like any true Texan.” It is also the state bird of Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.