Mockingbirds, a group of New World passerine birds, are best known for mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession.
The northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is the only mockingbird commonly found in North America. Mimus polyglottos means "many-tongued mimic" in Latin, which refers to the ability of bird to produce numerous calls and mimic various birds, animals and artificially made sounds (such as car alarms).
The Tropical Mockingbird (Mimus gilvus) is the neotropical counterpart to the Northern Mockingbird, replacing it south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico. The two species are similar in appearance, but Tropical Mockingbird has less white in the wings, lacking the white primary coverts and white bases to the primaries of Northern Mockingbird.
See also: Northern mockingbird, Tropical mockingbird
