Melanotis caerulescens
| blue mockingbird | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Mimidae |
| Genus: | Melanotis |
| Species: | M. caerulescens |
| Binomial name | |
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Melanotis caerulescens (Swainson, 1827) |
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The blue mockingbird (Melanotis caerulescens) is a species of bird in the Mimidae family. 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 John Swainson assigned it to the mockingbird genus 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 genus 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 or not.
Among taxonomists who believe the species is polytypic, two subspecies are generally recognized.
The blue mockingbird has historically been considered conspecific with the closely related blue-and-white mockingbird. Its generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek roots melano-/μελανο- meaning "black" and ot-/ὠτ- meaning "ear", while its species name is derived from the Latin adjective caerǔlěus, meaning "blue".
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