A Rebel Moves North

By MICHAEL POLLAK
Published: October 7, 2007
Q. I often awake to the chattering of a mockingbird outside my Manhattan apartment window. I thought mockingbirds were Southern birds, and if so, should they be hanging out so far up north?
A. Northern mockingbirds were once more Southern, but their range has spread north over the last few decades, partly in association with an invasive plant, the Multiflora rose, which provides crucial winter food for the birds.
Glenn Phillips, executive director of New York City Audubon, noted that the first recorded Northern mockingbird nest in New York City was in 1963 in Central Park. They have become a common species here since.