Trinidad euphonia

The Trinidad euphoniaTemplate:Sfn (Euphonia trinitatis) is a species of bird in the family Fringillidae. It is common in northern Colombia and northern Venezuela and uncommon to rare on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. Like all euphonias, it is small, stocky, and short-tailed; unlike some, it is sexually dimorphic. The male is glossy blue-black on the head, back, throat, and upper breast, with a bright yellow forehead and Template:Birdgloss, and bright yellow underparts. The female is olive-green above and yellow-olive below, with a grayer patch running down the center of her breast and abdomen, and bright yellow Template:Birdgloss. Its calls are high-pitched, plaintive whistles: the two most common are a single-pitched, double-noted "pee pee" or "tee dee", or a rising, double-noted "puwee", "cooleee" or "duu dee". Its song is a short, jumbled mix of musical and nonmusical notes.

It is primarily a fruit-eater, specializing on mistletoe berries, but also eating other fruits, as well as occasional seeds and invertebrates. Pairs are monogamous, and stay together year round. Both parents build a globular nest of dried grass and stems, lined with finer material and with a side entrance. The female lays three to four cream-colored, brown-splotched eggs, which she alone incubates. Both parents feed the hatched chicks. English ornithologist Hugh Edwin Strickland first described the Trinidad euphonia in 1851. It has no subspecies. Across its range, it is considered a species of least concern, though it is rare on Trinidad due to overtrapping for the caged bird trade.

Taxonomy and systematics

English ornithologist Hugh Edwin Strickland first described the Trinidad euphonia in 1851, using a specimen collected on the island of Trinidad; he named it Euphonia trinitatis.Template:Sfn It has sometimes been considered to be a superspecies with the scrub, yellow-crowned and purple-throated euphonias.Template:Sfn This designation indicates that these species evolved from a common ancestor relatively recently and are thought to be closely related, but not closely enough to be considered subspecies.Template:Sfn On the other hand, the Trinidad euphonia is sometimes thought to be a subspecies of the very similar purple-throated euphonia.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Its range is largely distinct, or allopatric, from that of the latter species, overlapping only in a narrow zone in eastern Venezuela.Template:Sfn However, genetic studies reported in 2020 indicate that its closest relatives are the scrub and yellow-crowned euphonias, and that it is more distantly related to the purple-throated euphonia.Template:Sfn It is monotypic across its range.Template:Sfn

When Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest created the genus Euphonia in 1806, he assigned it to the tanager family Thraupidae. There it remained for nearly 200 years, until molecular DNA studies done in the late 20th and early 21st century revealed that euphonias were more closely related to the finches than the tanagers. The genus was moved to the family Fringillidae as a result of these studies.Template:Sfn

The genus name Euphonia is Ancient Greek for "euphony" or "excellence of tone".Template:Sfn The species name trinitatis commemorates the bird's type locality—the island of Trinidad.Template:Sfn

Description

The Trinidad euphonia is a small, stout, short-tailed passerine, measuring in length and weighing .Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn It is sexually dimorphic in plumage. The male is glossy blue-black on the head, back, chin, and throat, with a bright yellow forehead and Template:Birdgloss, and bright yellow underparts.Template:Sfn The basal half of his Template:Birdgloss are white, as are his underwing Template:Birdgloss; the latter results in a white stripe on his underwing when he flies.Template:Sfn He also has white on the inner webs of the outer two to three tail feathers; this appears as two large white ovals on the undertail.Template:Sfn The yellow on his crown extends well behind his eyes.Template:Sfn The female is olive-green above and yellow-olive below, with a grayer patch running down the center of her breast and abdomen, and bright yellow Template:Birdgloss.Template:Sfn Both sexes have dark brown irises, and gray legs and feet.Template:Sfn The bill is black with a white base to the Template:Birdgloss.Template:Sfn

Vocalizations

Template:Birdsong A "notably vocal" species, the Trinidad euphonia has whistled calls that are high-pitched, plaintive, and hard to locate.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The male typically sits at or near the top of a tree to call, often sitting on a semi-exposed or bare branch.Template:Sfn One regular call, variously transcribed as "pee", "tee", or "dee", is typically doubled, though sometimes it is repeated 3–5 times, and exceptionally up to 20. The notes of this call are always on the same pitch, and can be heard from a considerable distance.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Another regular call, transcribed as "duu dee", "puwee", or "cooleee", is sung rapidly on two pitches, with the second note higher.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A third call is a mournful "siu".Template:Sfn The song is a short, jumbled mix of musical and nonmusical notes, which it often alternates with its calls.Template:Sfn The female's responding calls are shorter and "less penetrating" than the male's.Template:Sfn

Similar species

Small, mostly yellowish bird with a grayish belly and abdomen perched on a diagonal dead stick

Females show a grayish patch in the center of their belly and abdomen.

The Trinidad euphonia is similar in appearance to a number of other euphonia species. The male's dark throat distinguishes it from male thick-billed and violaceous euphonias, both of which have yellow throats. The female can be told from female thick-billed and violaceous euphonias by her smaller size and smaller, finer bill; the gray on her breast and belly is also distinctive.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The male orange-bellied euphonia has a rufous rather than yellow forehead, and darker underparts, while the female sports a grayish nape.Template:Sfn The most likely confusion species is the marginally larger purple-throated euphonia. Male purple-throated euphonias tend to be glossed with a purplish rather than bluish sheen; their yellow crown extends to just behind their eyes. Females are virtually indistinguishable from female purple-throated euphonias (which have a slight grayish tinge to the upperparts) and both they and immature birds are not thought to be separable in the field.Template:Sfn

Distribution and habitat

The Trinidad euphonia is found in northern Colombia, northern Venezuela, and Trinidad. A single Tobago record is regarded as a probable escaped cage bird.Template:Sfn On Trinidad, it is found primarily in second growth and hill forest near mistletoe and in cultivated areas with large trees, though on the west coast it is also found in mangroves.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn On the mainland, it occurs in the tropical zone at elevations up to , and is especially common in arid regions.Template:Sfn Habitats include dry forest, the edges of moist forest, light woodland, scrub, and cultivated areas. In moister forest, it is replaced by the purple-throated euphonia.Template:Sfn There have been several exceptionally high sight-only (i.e. undocumented) records in Venezuela: one at and another at .Template:Sfn

Behavior and ecology

Small bird with a bright yellow belly and crown and dark blue-black back and throat perched on a diagonal dead stick

The male's yellow crown extends back behind his eyes.

The Trinidad euphonia spends much of its time in the treetops.Template:Sfn It is typically found in pairs or groups of up to eight.Template:Sfn Although it seldom joins mixed-species flocks, it readily joins mobs that are harassing snakes, owls, or other predators.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It is known to wander widely.Template:Sfn

Breeding and nesting

The Trinidad euphonia is monogamous, with pairs remaining together year-round.Template:Sfn The breeding season runs from January to April in Trinidad, but is generally restricted to April in Colombia and Venezuela.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The pair court by flicking their wings and twitching from side to side, bowing low, with the male displaying his bright crown. Both sexes build the nest, which is a round ball of dried grass and stems. It has a circular entrance in the side and is lined with finer material. This can be located from off the ground, and may be built in a variety of locations.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Sometimes they are tucked into large bromeliads and occasionally they are hung from the end of a branch. One has been found in a hollow stump.Template:Sfn The female lays 3–4 eggs, which are white or cream with irregular dark brown splotches and measure .Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Only she incubates them, but both parents feed the hatched youngsters.Template:Sfn The generation length is estimated to be 3.5 years.Template:Sfn

Feeding

Like all euphonias, the Trinidad euphonia is primarily a frugivore, feeding mostly on small berries—particularly mistletoes in the genera Loranthus and Phthirusa.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Unlike some euphonias, it eats insects, which it collects from spiderwebs and the underside of small twigs.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn It also takes various other invertebrates and seeds.Template:Sfn It has an abnormal stomach, lacking the muscular gizzard of most birds.Template:Sfn This may be an adaptation to deal with mistletoe berries, as this stomach modification is shared with other Euphonia species that have similarly specialized diets.Template:Sfn It forages noisily and actively, either alone or in small groups, and only occasionally with mixed species flocks.Template:Sfn It generally forages from the mid-canopy upwards, though it moves lower at forest edges and in scrub.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Conservation status and threats

The International Union for Conservation of Nature rates the Trinidad euphonia as being a species of least concern, due to its very large range and apparently stable population. Although its numbers have not been quantified, it is considered to be common across much of its range.Template:Sfn However, it is rare and local on Trinidad, where trapping for the caged bird trade has greatly reduced its numbers.Template:Sfn Captured birds seldom live long, as most owners do not have sufficient knowledge of the birds' dietary and hygiene needs to keep them successfully.Template:Sfn

References

General sources

• Template:Cite iucn
• Template:Cbignore

External links

• Template:EBirdSpecies
• Template:VIREO