Mockingbird Canyon

Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession and for being extremely territorial when raising hatchlings. Studies have shown the ability of some species to identify individual humans and treat them differently based on learned threat assessments.

The only mockingbird commonly found in North America is the northern mockingbird. Mockingbirds are known for singing late at night, even past midnight.

They are opportunistic omnivores, feeding on insects, fruits, seeds, and occasional greens.

The northern mockingbird is the state bird of five states in the United States, a trend that was started in 1920, when the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs proposed the idea. In January 1927, Governor Dan Moody approved this, and Texas became the first state ever to choose a state bird. Since then, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee have also adopted the northern mockingbird as their official state bird.

Taxonomy

There are about 17 species in two genera, although three species of mockingbird from the Galápagos Islands were formerly separated into a third genus, ''Nesomimus''. The mockingbirds do not appear to form a monophyletic lineage, as ''Mimus'' and ''Melanotis'' are not each other's closest relatives; instead, ''Melanotis'' appears to be more closely related to the catbirds, while the closest living relatives of ''Mimus'' appear to be thrashers, such as the sage thrasher.Hunt, Jeffrey S.; Bermingham, Eldredge; & Ricklefs, Robert E. (2001):
Molecular systematics and biogeography of Antillean thrashers, tremblers, and mockingbirds (Aves: Mimidae)
" '' Auk'' 118(1): 35–55. DOI:10.1642/0004-8038(2001)118 035:MSABOA.0.CO;2Barber, Brian R.; Martínez-Gómez, Juan E. & Peterson, A. Townsend (2004) "Systematic position of the Socorro mockingbird ''Mimodes graysoni''." '' J. Avian Biol.'' 35: 195–198.

Species in taxonomic order

''Mimus'':
* Brown-backed mockingbird, ''Mimus dorsalis''
* Bahama mockingbird, ''Mimus gundlachii''
* Long-tailed mockingbird, ''Mimus longicaudatus''
* Patagonian mockingbird, ''Mimus patagonicus''
* Chilean mockingbird, ''Mimus thenca''
* White-banded mockingbird, ''Mimus triurus''
* Northern mockingbird, ''Mimus polyglottos''
* Socorro mockingbird, ''Mimus graysoni''
* Tropical mockingbird, ''Mimus gilvus''
* Chalk-browed mockingbird, ''Mimus saturninus''
Formerly ''Nesomimus'' (endemic to the Galapagos):
* Hood mockingbird, ''Mimus macdonaldi''
* Galápagos mockingbird, ''Mimus parvulus''
* Floreana mockingbird or Charles mockingbird, ''Mimus trifasciatus''
* San Cristóbal mockingbird, ''Mimus melanotis''
''Melanotis'':
* Blue mockingbird, ''Melanotis caerulescens''
* Blue-and-white mockingbird, ''Melanotis hypoleucus''

Charles Darwin

When the survey voyage of HMS ''Beagle'' visited the Galápagos Islands in September to October 1835, the naturalist Charles Darwin noticed that the mockingbirds ''Mimus thenca'' differed from island to island, and were closely allied in appearance to mockingbirds on the South American mainland. Nearly a year later when writing up his notes on the return voyage he speculated that this, together with what he had been told about Galápagos tortoises, could undermine the doctrine of stability of species. This was his first recorded expression of doubts about species being immutable, which led to his being convinced about the transmutation of species and hence evolution.

References

External links

Mockingbird videos, photographs and sound recordings
on the Internet Bird Collection

Mockingbird singing

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Bird common names
Mimidae
Symbols of Mississippi