Trembler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tremblers | ||||||||||||
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Cinclocerthia gutturalis |
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Tremblers are a New World group of passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the Mimidae family. There are 2 species in one genus, Cinclocerthia:
- Gray Trembler, Cinclocerthia gutturalis
- Brown Trembler, Cinclocerthia ruficauda
Among the living birds, these are apparently most closely related to the Pearly-eyed Thrasher (Hunt et al. 2001, Barber et al. 2004).
Their common name comes from their peculiar behavior: if excited, they will show a much more exaggerated version of the wing-flicking also seen in other mimids, for example the Northern Mockingbirds. The tremblers do not just flick their wings, but shake their entire bodies in a trembling motion.
[edit] References
- Barber, Brian R.; Martínez-Gómez, Juan E. & Peterson, A. Townsend (2004): Systematic position of the Socorro mockingbird Mimodes graysoni. J. Avian Biol. 35: 195-198. doi:10.1111/j.0908-8857.2004.03233.x (HTML abstract)
- 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[0035:MSABOA]2.0.CO;2 HTML fulltext without images

