Are Mockingbirds Beneficial To Fig Trees & Berry Vines? - Wild Texas Forums: Parks, Travel & Recreation

06-11-2005, 10:23 AM

Are mockingbirds more beneficial vs detrimental around berry vines and fig trees? As much time as I see them around my tree and berry vines I'm wondering if they're after bugs more than they are the fruit. The blackberries disappear when they're around. It's always the RIPE figs that have bird pecks on them but the figs aren't always completely eaten. Do you think they are actually eating the figs or just pecking insects off of them?

Shannon · 06-11-2005, 11:29 AM

From Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology:

Quote:

During fall and winter, the mockingbird diet consists primarily of wild fruit including holly, blackberry, pokeberry, sumac, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, and prickly pear. A propensity for devouring grapes and other cultivated fruit has at times earned it the enmity of growers. Throughout the year, but especially in the breeding season, insects and other arthropods are taken on the ground in areas of short grass, such as suburban lawns, or bare earth.

If it becomes a problem, you could look into one of the organic sprays that doesn't harm the plants or wildlife (birds, beneficial insects, etc.) but will discourage the mockingbirds from feasting on your berries. I just listened to Bob Webster's gardening show on KTSA (550 AM in San Antonio) this morning and he was discussing something along these lines.

Bear in mind that the birds are doing their job, regardless of if they're going after the fruits or the insect -- by ingesting the fruits and seeds, the birds help disperse the plant's seeds elsewhere.

copuswalker · 06-11-2005, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ABE COCHRAN

Are mockingbirds more beneficial vs detrimental around berry vines and fig trees? As much time as I see them around my tree and berry vines I'm wondering if they're after bugs more than they are the fruit. The blackberries disappear when they're around. It's always the RIPE figs that have bird pecks on them but the figs aren't always completely eaten. Do you think they are actually eating the figs or just pecking insects off of them?

Interesting question. All I know is I hate it how they peck once or twice and leave them for another.
We had lived in Spring and had a fig tree and an abundance of mockingbirds.Our figs were always pecked.We have since moved to Crockett and have a fig tree with few Mockingbirds in the area. We have not had one pecked fig to date? That convinces me that the Mockingbird is the primary culprit!

I always thouht the bids looked at it as a smorgasboard. Try a little of this and a little of that

audreyhtx1 · 03-04-2006, 05:29 PM

Oh, they are most definitely eating the FRUIT! I have watched many a mockingbird feast on the figs in my fig tree. They love fruit.

Berries - robins and cedar waxwings and orioles are just as likely to swipe these as mockingbirds.

The only way I know to protect fruit from mockingbirds is to use nets. It's a hassle, but I don't think anything else would deter them unless you could rig up some kind of moving scarecrow.

Oh yeah - and starlings, cardinals, woodpeckers, squirrels will also go after those figs.

Audrey