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.
Taxonomy and systematics
The tropical mockingbird has sometimes
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.
Taxonomy and systematics
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.
The tropical mockingbird has these ten subspecies:
- M. g. gracilis Cabinis (1851)
- M. g. leucophaeus Ridgway (1888)
- M. g. antillarum Hellmayr & Seilern (1915)
- M. g. tobagensis Dalmas (1900)
- M. g. rostratus Cabinis (1851)
- M. g. melanopterus Lawrence (1849)
- M. g. gilvus Vieillot (1808)
- M. g. tolimensis Ridgway (1904)
- M. g. antelius Oberholser (1919)
- M. g. magnirostris Cory (1887)
M. g. antelius and M. g. magnirostris have been suggested as separate species but morphological and vocal evidence for the potential splits are weak.
Adult tropical mockingbirds are 23 to 25.5 cm (9.1 to 10.0 in) long. 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.
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.
Distribution and habitat
The subspecies of the tropical mockingbird are distributed thus:
- M. g. gracilis, southern Mexico south to Honduras and El Salvador
- M. g. leucophaeus, the Yucatán Peninsula and Cozumel and other offshore islands
- M. g. antillarum, the Lesser Antilles from Antigua south
- M. g. tobagensis, Trinidad and Tobago
- M. g. rostratus, southern Caribbean islands from Aruba east to Blanquilla
- M. g. melanopterus, northern and northeastern Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil's Roraima state
- M. g. gilvus, Suriname and F