Northern Mockingbirds are robin-sized birds with long tails. Their tail is gray with white edge feathers. Their belly and auriculars are white and their back, cap, and wings are grey. Their wings have white wing-bars, that when flying show greatly. Mockingbirds also possess a dark eye-line. Their eyes are yellow with black pupils, and their bill and feet are black/dark-gray. Juvenile Mockingbirds have streaking on the breast and younger juveniles have dark eyes. Occasionally adults will have dark eyes.

A Northern Mockingbird atop a live oak stringing together other birds' songs and calls into a unique song. Notice how the Mockingbird adds their own flourish to each call, like the call of an Eastern Towhee at the end of the video in which the mockingbird adds a trill that a Towhee does not normally sing. This Mockingbird continued to sing for as long as they were heard.

Northern Mockingbirds also inhabit a strange behavior in which the fan out their wing in three stages to scare away insects, so they don’t have to waste time searching for them. Juveniles have been observed exhibiting this behavior more quickly.

Gray Catbirds can occasionally be confused with Mockingbirds, but note that they have a black cap and rusty undertail coverts. They also are more completely gray and lack the white belly and breast of Mockingbirds. Both are mimics and calls are not a reliable source of information. Catbirds can be found in much more wooded areas.

Tufted Titmice are similar to Mockingbirds, however, they are slightly smaller and have bluer gray than mockingbirds. They also have buffy flanks, a crest, no eye-line, a black front, a stubbier bill, and a white eye-ring. Calls are not a reliable source of identification because Mockingbirds mimic their calls. Titmice can also be found in more wooded areas.