Melanotis caerulescens
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blue Mockingbird sighting in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 265th most-seen of the 275 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue Mockingbird in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July to May, the lowest months. That is one of Cumbres de Monterrey National Park's wettest months, with about 150 mm of rain against 20 mm in December.
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.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Blue Mockingbird sightings, Cumbres de Monterrey National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca (Mexico, about 10%).
Same family: Mimidae
The closest relatives of the Blue Mockingbird that you can see in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park (family Mimidae, Mockingbirds and Thrashers) are Long-billed Thrasher (about 20%), Curve-billed Thrasher (about 10%) and Gray Catbird (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue Mockingbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
