Pearly-eyed Thrasher

The pearly-eyed thrasher is the largest species in the Mimidae, growing to 28 to 30 cm (11 to 11.8 inches) in length.

The pearly-eyed thrasher has a somewhat disjunct distribution throughout the West Indies: it is found in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the eastern Dominican Republic (as well as Isla Beata), many of the Lesser Antilles (except Barbados and Grenada, where it is extirpated), Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Bonaire. Its main habitat is bushes and trees in mountain forests and coffee plantations. In Puerto Rico, as well as occupying the main island, it is also found on Mona Island. In the Bahamas, it is a breeding species on San Salvador, Exuma, and Long Island, and probably also on Acklins, Mayaguana, and Great Inagua; in addition it is found as a wintering species on Eleuthra and Cat Island. In the Lesser Antilles, it is a breeding species in the SSS islands (the northern part of the Netherlands Antilles), Barbuda, Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, Saint Thomas, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The subspecies M. f. bonairensis was formerly found on La Horquilla, one of the Hermanos Islands off the north coast of Venezuela, but it is now believed to be extirpated from there, having last been reported in 1908.

The pearly-eyed thrasher is described as an aggressive, opportunistic omnivore that feeds primarily on large insects, but also feeds on fruits and berries, and will occasionally eat lizards, frogs, small crabs and other bird's eggs and nestlings. This species nests in cavities. In Puerto Rico, it is known to compete with the critically endangered Puerto Rican amazon (Amazona vittata) for nesting sites, and may even destroy the parrot's eggs.