Puerto Rican Spindalis

IDENTIFICATION: The male is green above with an orange neck and breast. The head is black, with white stripes above and below the eye. The tail and wings are dark with a diffuse white wing bar. In contrast to the maleÆs colorful patchwork, the femaleÆs plumage is dull olive green, with fuzzy streaking below, and a vague suggestion of the maleÆs white stripe-pattern on the head. Length: 17 cm.; weight: 26-31 g.

VOICE: This species persistently sings a squeaky series of notes from a canopy branch or sometimes while circling over a favorite perch. Some of the notes are so high-pitched, that many people have trouble hearing them. Audio (M. Oberle). The call is a weak "tseet."

HABITAT: Forests, suburban gardens, and plantations with fruiting plants, at all altitudes.

HABITS: This tanager travels in pairs or small flocks at all levels in forests and plantations. The tanager also joins mixed-species flocks. It primarily eats berries and fruits such as figs, blackberries and Cecropia fruits, and consumes some aphids and other insects. Like many other species, the male will sometimes confuse its own reflection with a rival bird and will repeatedly attack windows and mirrors to drive off the "intruder." Its nest is quite variable, ranging from a small cup, to bulky, deeper nests. It lays 2-4 light blue eggs with brown speckling.

STATUS AND CONSERVATION: Common in urban areas with trees, as well as in forests, although it may be difficult to see well when it is foraging high in the forest canopy. Since it travels over a wide area seeking ripe fruit, it is an important disseminator of seeds of forest plants.

RANGE: Endemic to Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican Spindalis can be found in forested areas such as El Yunque or near Maricao.

TAXONOMY: PASSERIFORMES; THRAUPIDAE. This species was called the Stripe-headed Tanager (Spindalis zena ), but taxonomists recently split the Stripe-headed Tanager into four separate species, based on differences in calls and in the plumages of both males and females. The four species are now the Puerto Rican Spindalis (Spindalis portoricensis), the Jamaican Spindalis (Spindalis nigricephala), the Hispaniolan Spindalis (Spindalis dominicensis), and the Western Spindalis (Spindalis zena) of the Bahamas, Cuba, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel Island off Mexico.

References

Altshuler, D. L. 2001. Ultraviolet reflectance in fruits, ambient light composition and fruit removal in a tropical forest. Evolution Ecol. Res. 3:767-778.

Carlo, T. 1999. Alimentación de las aves terrestres de Puerto Rico. El Bien-te-veo 2(2):2.

Carlo, T. A., Collazo, J. A., and M. J. Groom. 2003. Avian fruit preferences across a Puerto Rican forested landscape: pattern consistency and implications for seed removal. Oecologia 134:119-131.

Collazo, J.A. and Bonilla Martínez, G. I. 1988. Comparación de la riqueza de aves entre plantaciones de pino hondureño (Pinus caribaea) y áreas de bosque nativo en el Bosque Estatal de Carite, Cayey, Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 24:1-10.

Cruz, A. 1980. Avian feeding assemblages in Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 15:21-27.

Garrido, O.H., K. C. Parkes, G. B. Reynard, A. Kirkconnell, and R. Sutton. 1997. Taxonomy of the Striped-headed Tanager, Genus Spindalis (Aves: Thraupidae) of the West Indies. Wilson Bull. 109 (4):561-594.

Isler M.L. and P.R. Isler. 1987. The Tanagers: natural history, distribution, and identification. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Levey, D. J. and C. Martφnez del Rio. 2001. It takes guts (and more) to eat fruit: lessons from avian nutritional ecology. Auk. 118(4): 819-831.

Pérez-Rivera, R. A. 1992. Nest and egg variability of the Stripe-headed Tanager. El Pitirre 5(3):14.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton.

Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR.

Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton.

Recher, H.F. and J. T. Recher. 1966. A contribution to the knowledge of the avifauna of the Sierra de Luquillo, Puerto Rico. Carib. J. Sci. 6:151-161.

Puerto Rican Spindalis, Spanish text

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Male - Photo: M. Oberle


Female - Photo: M. Oberle


Female - Photo: M. Oberle


Female - Photo: M. Oberle