Melanotis caerulescens
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue Mockingbird sighting in Mexico City on a given day, based on 1,539 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 66th most-seen of the 332 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December and January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Blue Mockingbird in Mexico City on a given day, against about 10% in February to November, the lowest months. Those are among Mexico City's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 150 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.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Blue Mockingbird sightings, Mexico City ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Guadalajara (México, about 40%) and León (México, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue Mockingbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Mexico City (1,539 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.
