Tootie's Backyard

Inour’s Home

Inour was born in the willow oak tree in Tootie’s backyard. Her dad picked the nesting site and started several nests, and her mom picked her favorite nest and finished it.

She and her siblings were born in a cup-shaped nest made of dead twigs, grass, leaves, rootlets, and trash that people left out.

She and her two siblings were born from greenish-white eggs with brown blotches two weeks after their mom laid them. Their mom and dad brought them a variety of bugs to eat until they left the nest two weeks later.

After leaving the nest, Inour’s two siblings left the area. Inour rests near the trunk of the willow oak where she was born at night. She forages nearby during the day.

What kinds of birds live in your yard?

Inour’s Hobbies

Inour’s favorite thing to do is sing. She sings morning, noon, and night from the willow oak tree in Tootie’s backyard. She sings most in October and November and is quiet during the summer and during December and January.

Her second favorite thing to do is bug Kevin, the crow, who she will chase around the yard.

Inour is related to Thrash, the brown thrasher, and gray catbirds, although, she doesn’t spend time with any of her distant relatives.

On the rare occasions when Inour hangs out with other mockingbirds, they form a group that is called an echo, an exactness, a plagiary, or a ridicule.

She prefers to spend her days at the top of the honeysuckle bush in Tootie’s backyard. On the bush, she sings, preens, or grooms, and occasionally takes flight to chase Kevin.

What activities are the birds in your yard doing?

Inour’s Diet

Inour is an omnivore, meaning she eats both meat and plants. During the summer, she eats mostly bugs, while in the late autumn and winter, she eats mostly fruit.

Inuor’s favorite warm-weather foods are grasshoppers and beetles. Her favorite cold-weather foods are holly winterberries and red gooseberries.

Tootie and Yoshi see her hovering near the holly bushes and the red currant bushes, plucking the berries for snacks at the edge of Tootie’s backyard.

Inour is a ground forager, meaning she hunts for most of her bug meals on the ground. She doesn’t care for worms very much and mostly focuses on beetles, crickets, and grasshoppers.

Sometimes she scares them by flashing her wings at them, causing them to try to flee. When they try to run or fly away, she grabs them for lunch or a snack.

What other animals are omnivores?