So the question is, what can you do about them? Is there any way to prevent them from attacking you, your kids, or your pets?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nLet’s take a closer look at the best ways to deal with aggressive mockingbirds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leave Them Alone<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Mockingbirds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which means that it’s illegal to kill, capture, or harm them in any way. It’s also illegal to tamper with their nests or their young.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aside from this act, though, there are good reasons to leave the birds alone. As noted above, they seem to know who to target as threats and who to leave alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The more you do to try and get rid of them, the more they are likely to identify you as a threat. And once they have you marked as public enemy number one, they will most likely start attacking you repeatedly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSo, unless the mockingbirds have already shown a tendency to attack you, your family, or your animals, it’s probably best to just let them be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Use Water Guns<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
If you know that you’re dealing with aggressive birds and you need a way to protect yourself, you can try using water guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Water guns won’t hurt the birds and will not violate the law against handling them. But they will discourage attacks.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nKeep a water gun with you on your property. Anytime you see a mockingbird behaving aggressively, spray it with the water gun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stream of water will send it flying in another direction and may, over time, make it think twice before launching future attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Use Lights<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Keeping a flashlight with you when you’re outside at night will help you spot attacking mockingbirds more easily.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat’s more, having lights set up around your property will ensure that you see them should they attempt to launch any nighttime attacks. But best of all, having the lights set up may discourage attacks altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Use Decoys and Deterrents<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A good way to keep mockingbirds from attacking is to keep them off your property in the first place. There are a number of good ways to do this.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nFirst, you can use owl decoys to trick the birds into thinking there is a predator in the territory. These decoys are fairly inexpensive and quite effective against mockingbirds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You could also use sound deterrents such as ultrasonic machines and predator noise-makers. These devices will produce sounds that are unsavory to mockingbirds and will send them flying away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using these decoys and deterrents will help to keep mockingbirds off your property and will chase away any that are already there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mockingbirds attack crows and anything else they perceive as a threat, including cats, dogs, other birds, and even humans. They do this because they are extremely protective of their young and will do whatever it takes to protect their nest and territory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Have you ever witnessed a mockingbird attacking something much larger than itself? A crow, perhaps, or a cat, or even a human? Perhaps it made you wonder about the reason behind such an attack. Why do mockingbirds chase crows? Why do they behave so aggressively? Is there anything you can do to keep them from … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12140"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12161,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12140\/revisions\/12161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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