Bahama Mockingbird

Overview

Bahama Mockingbird: Medium mockingbird with gray-brown upperparts and dark-streaked, pale gray underparts. Wings are dark with two white bars and white feather edges. Tail is long and white-tipped. Legs and feet are dark gray. Eats insects, spiders, small reptiles, berries and fruits.

Range and Habitat

Bahama Mockingbird: Breeds throughout the Bahama Islands south to the Turks Bank north of Hispaniola, on cays along the northern coast of Cuba, and in an isolated region of dry limestone forests along the southern Jamaican coast. In Florida, the Bahama Mockingbird is rare but regular along the southeast coast. Preferred habitats include dry scrub.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Bahama Mockingbird was virtually unknown on the most northerly Bahamian islands in the late 1800’s, but is now well established on Abaco and on eastern Grand Bahama Island.
Statements in some older literature noting that the "more aggressive" Northern Mockingbird was driving it into oblivion have been found to be unsubstantiated.
Development of the more populated Bahamian Islands has simply had the effect of substituting an obvious, exuberant species for one relatively shy around man.
A group of mockingbirds has many collective nouns, including an "echo", "exactness", "plagiary", and "ridicule" of mockingbirds.

The Bahama Mockingbird has a global range of just 16,000 square kilometers and is limited to a very specific area of the globe. This bird is native to Cuba, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, the United States and the Bahamas. The Bahama Mockingbird is thought to be fairly frequent within its limited range. As a result, there are not currently any concerns that the population of this bird is nearing danger as there has not been a significant population decline noted. The Bahama Mockingbird currently has a rating of Least Concern.