English         -          Chalk-browed Mockingbird

Portuguese  -          Sabiá-do-campo

Latin             -           Mimus saturninus

The Chalk-browed Mockingbird was once described by Charles Darwin (when he was visiting Uruguay) as “possessing a song far superior to that of any other bird he had come across. 

The Chalk-browed mockingbird, a small, ubiquitous passerine, with a conspicuous white supercillium, or ‘eyebrow’, sandwiched between a blackish eye stripe and a dark grey crown. The upper-parts of its body are predominately greyish brown, while the flight feathers and the long semi-erect tail are blackish, with white tips. Below, the throat and belly is a greyish white, but the flanks are often streaked with darker markings. It weighs between 30 - 35 grams and is around 23 cm in length. Across the chalk-browed mockingbird’s broad range, four subspecies, which exhibit minor differences in body size, bill length and plumage, are currently recognised: Mimus saturninus saturninus, M. s. frater, M. s. arenaceus, and M. s. modulator.

 It is a found in most parts of Brazil, and parts of Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, and Suriname. It’s a bird of open wooded areas, including urban and suburban gardens.

The  Chalk-browed Mockingbird is omnivorous. Its diet of consists of various insects, spiders, worms, fruit, seeds and berries, and occasionally the eggs and nestlings of other birds. 

Although it forages mainly on the ground, it will regularly perch in low bushes or trees, especially during the breeding season when the males will spend long periods of time singing. Breeding occurs from September to January with each monogamous pair often accompanied by several helpers that assist with territorial defence, nest-guarding and feeding the young. A clutch of three to four eggs is laid in a small, loosely constructed nest and incubated for 12 to 15 days. After hatching the young are confined to the nest for another 12 to 15 days, and are fed by the parents for around a week after fledging. The juveniles then remain in their parental territory through the non-breeding season and potentially as helpers over the subsequent breeding season. The nests of the chalk-browed mockingbird are commonly parasitised by shiny cowbirds which lay their own eggs in the nests of the mockingbirds. This typically results in the mockingbird unwittingly incubating the eggs of the shiny cowbird and rearing its young, often to the detriment of its own.

The Chalk-browed Mockingbird is classified as “Least Concern”. It does not qualify for a more at risk category as it is a widespread and abundant species.

Photo # 1 was taken at Praça Dr. Carlito L. Von Schilgen - Praia do Canto, Vitória - Espírito Santo

Photo # 2was taken at Praia da Costa - Vila Velha ES.