Will a Mockingbird Eat a Yellow Jacket?

A couple of days ago, I accidentally stirred up a yellow jacket nest in one of our bushes. I sat back down on the porch waiting for the wasps to light from their scramble, and suddenly I saw a mockingbird dive into the bush. From my vantage point, it appeared that the bird was after the yellow jackets.

I thought about Roy Bedichek's Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, and though he dedicated three chapters to the mocker, I could not remember anything about the bird eating wasps or bees. A quick google search on my phone revealed that mockingbirds are one of approximately 24 species of birds that dine on bees and wasps. The mockingbird was indeed a wasp eater.

In Bedichek's work, he often shares anecdotes about nature. And in Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, he even shares a letter from a reliable source about a mockingbird attacking a rattlesnake. Today, with cell phones, the anecdotal has been replaced with pictures and videos. Here is a short video of a mockingbird eating a yellow jacket.

And here is "Thinking About You" by that West Texas songbird, Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Listen to him sing about the mockingbird.