One of the more intriguing of Puerto Rico’s endemic species (one amongst many actually) is the slightly unhelpfully named Puerto Rican Spindalis Spindalis portoricensis (called Reina Mora de Puerto Rico in Spanish). Even Latin scholars might be hard put to imagine what a Spindalis might look like - the previous name of Stripe-headed Tanager at least gave us some idea of what to expect…

Unfortunately for birders who like their bird-names simple and descriptive, the Stripe-headed Tanager turned out not to be a single variable endemic Caribbean species, but a group of four closely-related taxa that - based on distribution, differences in calls and the complexity of songs*, and differences in the plumages of both males and females - are in fact four endemic Caribbean species that were subsequently named the Puerto Rican Spindalis Spindalis portoricensis, Jamaican Spindalis S. nigricephala, Hispaniolan Spindalis S. dominicensis, and the Western Spindalis S. zena of the Bahamas, Cuba and the Caribbean islands of Mexico. (For a detailed and thoroughly persuasive explanation why this decision was made go to the December 1997 edition of the Wilson Bulletin and have a look at ‘TAXONOMY OF THE STRIPE-HEADED TANAGER, GENUS SPINDALIS (AVES:THRAUPIDAE) OF THE WEST INDIES’ by 0. H. GARRIDO,’ K. C. PARKES, G. B. REYNARD, A. KIRKCONNELL, AND R. SUTTON or Mike’s much easier to understand previous 10,000 Birds post When is a Tanager a Spindalis?).

To complicate things further, the ‘Stripe-headed Tanager’ may not even have been a ‘proper’ tanager anyway. Recent molecular work seems to suggest that the whole, loosely-connected tanager group (the Thraupidae) needs a radical overhaul: the familiar (to North American birders anyway) Scarlet, Summer, and Western Tanagers for example appear not to be tanagers but Cardinalids, the unfamiliar Galapagos Finches not finches but derived from one of the sparrow-like Grassquits, which are not sparrow-like but tanager-like instead, and the tanager-like Euphonias and Chlorophonias are apparently really Fringillids (http://www.aba.org/birding/v40n6p28.pdf). And the ‘Stripe-headed Tanager’? In a paper in mid-2007 Klicka et al placed “Spindalis xena” into Incertae cedis which translates as ‘of uncertain placement’…though the IOC left all four species propping up the Thraupidae in 2006.

Male Puerto Rican Spindalis/Reina Mora de Puerto Rico Spindalis portoricensis
Photo © Gabriel Lugo (gabriellugo.com)

Male Puerto Rican Spindalis/Reina Mora de Puerto Rico Spindalis portoricensis
Photo © Karoline Mena (karomc80@yahoo.com)

Female Puerto Rican Spindalis/Reina Mora de Puerto Rico Spindalis portoricensis
Photo © Karoline Mena (karomc80@yahoo.com)

Oh well, whatever it is or isn’t a male Puerto Rican Spindalis is a splendid thing, a multi-hued, stripe-headed beauty. A similarly multi-hued range of web sources name the Spindalis as Puerto Rico’s National Bird but this seems to be a Wiki-myth repeated so often it’s almost true: apparently as of 2009 discussions are still ongoing and no final decision has yet been made. IMHO though it would be an interesting choice and at least would be a species that locals - and overseas visitors - can find fairly easily, as the Puerto Rican Spindalis is widespread and though it’s now more commonly found in plantations than in their natural habitat (the forests of Maricao and the Caribbean National Forest El Yunque) they also regularly turn up in gardens (which must be pleasant - a Spindalis would frankly beat into a cocked-hat the clumsy Wood Pigeon I currently have stuffing itself silly on my own bird table), and other areas where fruits are grown.

IBAs where the Puerto Rican Spindalis has been recorded

*http://www.avianweb.com/puertoricanspindalis.html: The vocalization of the Puerto Rican Spindalis is not as complex as that of other Spindalis species with only the songs of S. dominicensis being less elaborate. As with all Spindalis, the males emit high pitched sounds at 8 KHz or higher, usually from treetops high above the ground. Females, on the other hand, sing “whisper songs” usually from dense areas close to the ground. The most common vocalization is described as a “continuing series of high-pitched, thin, sibilant notes, given in a rhythmic pattern”. Other vocalizations include a fast “tweet” and a short “chi chi chi”.

There is a recording of the song on the Xeno-canto website (which incidentally also has a Black-whiskered Vireo, Northern Parula, and both Loggerhead and Grey Kingbirds in the background!).

• Like to see what else we’ve posted for ‘Puerto Rico Month’? Just click http://10000birds.com/tag/puerto-rico-month

 

• If you live in Puerto Rico or have visited PR and would like to contribute photos or a guest post (return traffic to your blog/website should be good, folks) then please mail charlie10000birds AT gmail DOT com

How would you and a partner/friend like to win a 5 day ‘Endemic Dash’ around Puerto Rico with Kevin Loughlin’s WildSide Nature Tours?

You would? Read on…

Kevin (whose photographs of Puerto Rican Woodpecker and Green-throated Carib grace this post) has been organising trips to the Caribbean for many years and is generously offering two places on an Endemic Dash, one of his popular short trips around Puerto Rico on which participants will be taken to see as many of the island’s endemics as possible.

The Tour starts in San Juan - so you’ll need to get there (flights are frequent and cheap from many major US cities) - but all guiding fees, accommodations, ground transportation, and meals from dinner on day of arrival through breakfast on day of departure are included!

That would normally cost two people around 2500USD - enter and win and it’ll cost you just your passport fees, airport taxes, alcoholic beverages, laundry, phone calls or anything else of a purely personal nature! Which - if you go easy on the celebratory beers, wear the same socks for a few days, and keep short the gloating phone calls to your jealous mates back home - really won’t amount to very much at all…

We’ll be posting more info about this fantastic competition during Puerto Rico Month - yes, okay, not posting the questions now is our way of making sure you come back to visit us, but why would you want to miss some truly exceptional photographs of Puerto Rico’s endemics and some of the most up-to-date info on Puerto Rico’s biodiversity on the net anyway?