Tropical Mockingbird

Mimus gilvus

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernInvertebratesShrublandCup nestSmall · 52 g

What the Tropical Mockingbird sounds like

Sonogram of the Tropical Mockingbird: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by JUAN ANTONIO ALONSO DE JUAN · Song · Pacho, Cundinamarca, Colombia · CC BY 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Tropical Mockingbird: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Imbabura: Salinas, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

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. Voice: 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'".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Tropical Mockingbird

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is January, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Tropical Mockingbird

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 26 countries with regular records, and 4 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in United States, Spain, Barbados, Peru.

About the Tropical Mockingbird

The tropical mockingbird is a resident breeding bird from southern Mexico to northern and eastern South America and in the Lesser Antilles and other Caribbean islands.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Northern Mockingbird vs Tropical Mockingbird · Chalk-browed Mockingbird vs Tropical Mockingbird · Chilean Mockingbird vs Tropical Mockingbird · Long-tailed Mockingbird vs Tropical Mockingbird

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