Mockingbirds and thrashers | Mimidae

Spotlijsters | Sinsontes

Medium-sized, slim songbirds with a long tail, sturdy legs and an often slightly decurved bill, much used on the ground in leaf litter. The family takes its name from mimicry; the mockingbirds in particular pick up the calls and song phrases of other birds. The song is long and repetitive, with phrases often delivered several times over. The family occurs only in the Americas; nine species live in the region. Northern Mockingbird is common in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas, Tropical Mockingbird in the Lesser Antilles and Trinidad and Tobago, and Bahama Mockingbird in the Bahamas and on a few small islands off Cuba and Jamaica. Four genera are Caribbean: Pearly-eyed Thrasher, which nests in cavities and also eats the eggs and young of other birds, Scaly-breasted Thrasher, the two tremblers with their long bill and drooping wings, and White-breasted Thrasher of Martinique and Saint Lucia. Grey Catbird is a winter visitor from North America.