| Tropical mockingbird | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Mimidae |
| Genus: | Mimus |
| Species: | M. gilvus |
| Binomial name | |
| Mimus gilvus (Vieillot, 1808) | |
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The tropical mockingbird (Mimus gilvus) is a resident breeding bird from southern Mexico to northern and eastern South America and in the Lesser Antilles and other Caribbean islands. [2] [3]
The tropical mockingbird has sometimes been considered conspecific with its closest living relative, the northern mockingbird (Milvus polyglottos) and forms a superspecies with it. The critically endangered Socorro mockingbird (M. graysoni) is also much closer to these two than previously believed. [4]
The tropical mockingbird has these ten subspecies: [2]
M. g. antelius and M. g. magnirostris have been suggested as separate species but morphological and vocal evidence for the potential splits are weak. [5] [6]
Adult tropical mockingbirds are 23 to 25.5 cm (9.1 to 10.0 in) long. The mean weights of various subspecies vary greatly. Adults of the nominate subspecies are gray on the head and upper parts and have a whitish supercilium and a dark stripe through the eye. The underparts are off-white and the wings are blackish with two white wing bars and white edges to the flight feathers. They have a long dark tail with white feather tips, a slim black bill with a slight downward curve and long dark legs. Juveniles are browner and their chest and flanks have dusky streaks. [6]
The subspecies vary in overall size and the length of wings and tail, the intensity of their plumage colors, the extent of pale markings, and eye color. M. g. magnirostris is the largest and has a significantly heavier bill than the others; M. g. tolimensis is also larger than the nominate. [6]
The subspecies of the tropical mockingbird are distributed thus: [2] [6]
The population of M. g. tolimensis in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama are descendants of escaped cage birds imported from Colombia. [6]
The tropical mockingbird is common in most open habitats, including around human habitation. Examples include scrublands, savannas, parks, and farmlands. It avoids closed forests and mangroves. It is a bird of the lowlands to middle elevations; it reaches about 2,500 m (8,200 ft) in Central American and the northern Andes. It has been found as high as 2,600 m (8,500 ft) in Colombia and 3,100 m (10,200 ft) in northern Ecuador. [6]
The tropical mockingbird forages on the ground or low in vegetation; it also captures flying insects such as swarming termites on the wing. It is omnivorous; its diet includes a variety of arthropods (such as spiders, grasshoppers, and beetles), seeds, small fruits and berries, larger cultivated fruits (such as mangoes and sapodillas), lizards, bird and lizard eggs, the contents of bird feeders, and human food. [6] [7] [8]
The tropical mockingbird generally nests from late in the wet season through the transition period into the early wet season. During that long period, it often will produce three broods. It is monogamous but cooperative breeding has been recorded with the young of the previous brood acting as helpers. It aggressively defends its territory against birds of its own and other species, and predatory animals as well. Both sexes build the nest using coarse twigs lined with softer material and place it low in a shrub or tree. The clutch size ranges from two to four but is usually three. The female does most of the incubation during the 13- to 15-day period. Chicks are fed by both parents (and helpers) in the nest for up to 19 days and beyond that after fledging. [6]
The tropical mockingbird's song is "a varied and long-continued sequence of diverse mellow to harsh notes, trills, with considerable repetition of phrases". It will often sing through the night. It apparently rarely mimics other species. Its calls include "a resonant 'pree-ew'" and "a harsh 'chick' or 'chek'". [6]
The IUCN has assessed the tropical mockingbird as being of Least Concern. [1] It is "common and conspicuous nearly throughout [its] range". Its range has expanded in some areas, such as northward in the Lesser Antilles, but has contracted in southeastern Brazil due to habitat loss and illegal trapping. [6]
Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession.
The bananaquit is a species of passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. Before the development of molecular genetics in the 21st century, its relationship to other species was uncertain and it was either placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae, with New World warblers in the family Parulidae or its own monotypic family Coerebidae. This small, active nectarivore is found in warmer parts of the Americas and is generally common.
The northern mockingbird is a mockingbird commonly found in North America. This bird is mainly a permanent resident, but northern birds may move south during harsh weather. This species has rarely been observed in Europe. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Turdus polyglottos. The northern mockingbird is known for its mimicking ability, as reflected by the meaning of its scientific name, "many-tongued mimic". The northern mockingbird has gray to brown upper feathers and a paler belly. Its tail and wings have white patches which are visible in flight.
The Socorro mockingbird is an endangered mockingbird endemic to Socorro Island in Mexico's Revillagigedo Islands. The specific epithet commemorates the American ornithologist Andrew Jackson Grayson.
The grey-fronted dove is a large New World tropical dove. It is found on Trinidad and in every mainland South American country except Chile.
The rufous-breasted wren is a small songbird of the family Troglodytidae. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
The roadside hawk is a relatively small bird of prey found in the Americas. This vocal species is often the most common raptor in its range. It has many subspecies and is now usually placed in the monotypic genus Rupornis instead of Buteo.
The chalk-browed mockingbird is a bird in the family mimidae. It is found in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname, and Uruguay.
The pearly-eyed thrasher is a bird in the thrasher family Mimidae. It is found on many Caribbean islands, from the Bahamas in the north to the Grenadines in the south, with an isolated subspecies on Bonaire.
The scaly-breasted thrasher is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is found throughout much of the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean Sea.
The blue mockingbird is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is endemic to Mexico, but has occurred as a vagrant in the southern United States. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and heavily degraded former forest.
Mimus is a bird genus in the family Mimidae. It contains the typical mockingbirds. In 2007, the genus Nesomimus was merged into Mimus by the American Ornithologists' Union. The genus name is Latin for "mimic".
The Bahama mockingbird is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is found in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and is a vagrant to Florida.
The Patagonian mockingbird is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is found in much of Argentina and locally in Chile.
The white-banded mockingbird is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The Floreana mockingbird or the Charles Island mockingbird, is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It was endemic to Floreana, one of the Galápagos Islands, but now is found only on two nearby islets, Campeón and Gardner-near-Floreana. The Floreana mockingbird is also known as Darwin's mockingbird, as it was the arguable inspiration for Charles Darwin's work on the origins of species; he noticed distinct differences between them and previous species he had encountered and consequently established the existence of other variants on neighboring islands.
The strong-billed woodcreeper is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
The spotted woodcreeper is a species of bird in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.
Sideroxylon socorrense is a plant species in the family Sapotaceae. It is endemic to Mexico, occurring only on Socorro in the Revillagigedo Islands.
