Melanotis caerulescens
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The blue mockingbird (Melanotis caerulescens) 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.
The blue mockingbird is uniformly blue on its back, tail, wings, head and underbelly. This color is a result of feather structure rather than pigment, and therefore can look gray in the shade. It has a black "mask" surrounding its reddish-brown eyes. It has a rather long, slightly graduated tail, and dark blue streaks over its breast. Its bill is long, thin and slightly curved, and its legs and feet are black.
When he first described the blue mockingbird in 1827, William Swainson assigned it to the mockingbird Orpheus, and when Orpheus became a junior synonym for the genus Mimus, the species was moved accordingly. Not all authorities agreed; several placed it in the thrush Turdus. However, when Charles Lucien Bonaparte moved it to its current genus Melanotis in 1850, most authorities quickly followed suit. There is disagreement as to whether it is monotypic... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 2 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | Puebla | 🇲🇽 México |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Blue Mockingbird sighting in Guadalajara on a given day, based on 411 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 20th most-seen of the 184 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Blue Mockingbird in Guadalajara on a given day, against about 20% in February and September, the lowest months. That is one of Guadalajara's driest months, with almost no rain against 210 mm in July.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue Mockingbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Blue Mockingbird sightings, Guadalajara has the highest daily chance: about 40%. Next come León (México, about 20%) and Mexico City (México, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue Mockingbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Guadalajara (411 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
