Zapata Sparrow

Zapataammer

The Zapataammer ( Torreornis inexpectata ) is a monotypic species of bird in the bunting family ( Emberizidae ). The range of this endemic species is restricted to three small areas on the Caribbean island of Cuba. It is classified by the IUCN as endangered ( Endangered ).

Features

The round Zapataammer reaches a body length of about 16.5 centimeters. She has very short wings. The underside is yellow, the white throat is crossed by a dark beard Streif. Between the throat and yellow underparts white, there is a gray verschwommes release tape. A stripe above the rein and a beard line below the cheeks are white. The crown is dark red to brown. The rest of the upper side is olive gray.

Juveniles are generally darker and have no red-brown crown.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate form lives in the bushes of extensive grasslands. The subspecies T. i varonai occurs in laubabwerfendem Forest, near-coastal xerophytischem brambles and in mangrove forests. Finally, one finds the subspecies T. i sigmani in a dry scrub, dominated by columnar cacti area.

Behavior

One usually sees the Zapataammern in pairs or groups of three. Sometimes it also happens that they are traveling in larger groups of ten to twelve animals. To their food primarily include seeds, berries and flowers. In the rainy season they feed addition of insects, spiders, snails (eg Florida apple snail ( Pomacea paludosa ) ) as well as their eggs and even small lizards that can be found in up to two meters tall bushes and on the ground. T. i sigmani seems to be gnaphalodes depending on the seeds of belonging to the Boraginaceae Tournefortia. Their nest they build from tufts of grass, as belonging to the cutting Cladium jamaicense. In this they lay two to four blue-white eggs. The breeding season is from March to June. The song of the subspecies T. i inexpectata and T. i sigmani differs significantly, while the song of T. i varonai there is inadequate data and analysis. The flight seems more effort, with quick strokes and wing beats. They rarely fly far.

Subspecies

It describes three subspecies, which differ mainly in their color and in their already above habitat requirements. Your small distribution areas are far away from each other:

• Torreornis inexpectata inexpectata Barbour & Peters, 1927 - nominate form, is found only in the eponymous swamp of Zapata.
• Torreornis inexpectata sigmani Spence & Smith, 1961 Slightly smaller than the nominate form, this is especially true for the beak. The red of the crown is less intense. They have less gray on the breast and flanks. The breast and belly are zitonenfarben brighter. The dorsal stripes are very blurry. Occurrence only in a very small strip on the southeast coast of Guantánamo.
• Torreornis inexpectata varonai Regalado Ruiz, 1981 - This subspecies is similar to the nominate very much, but has a much more pronounced eye-streak (white bar over the reins ). Spread only in a very limited area on Cayo Coco, a part of the Camagüey Archipelago.

System

The monotypic genus Torreornis is morphologically close to the genus Aimophila ( Swainson, 1837, Dabbene - Bunting ( Aimophila strigiceps ), Pride Man Bunting ( Aimophila stolzmanni ), rust apex Bunting ( Aimophila ruficeps ) Oaxacaammer ( Aimophila notosticta ) ) related. Also they usually have a reddish crown and a black beard Streif.

The ornithologist George John Wallace (1907-1986) said in a personal comment that the behavior and the contour of Zapatammer rather to the genus Zonotrichia ( Swainson, 1832) (roof Sammer ( Zonotrichia leucophrys ), White -throated Sparrow ( Zonotrichia albicollis ), Morning Bunting ( it Zonotrichia capensis ), Crown Sparrow ( Zonotrichia atricapilla ), Harris Sparrow ( Zonotrichia querula ) ) recalls. The genus Pipilo ( Vieillot, 1816) appears to be similar in the behavior of Zapataammer.

Research History and etymology

The first known to science Zapataammer was collected in March 1927 by the Spanish zoologists Fermín Zanón Cervera ( 1875-1944 ) in the Zapata Swamp area in the south of the province of Matanzas. Cervera, who accompanied Thomas Barbour during an expedition to the north-east of the swamp of Zapata, was again sent by that in the swamp when he heard rumors of strange birds in the area. As a result, he brought with Cuba Wren Zapataammer and the Cuba Rail with three previously unknown bellows of his tour. Barbour and James Lee Peters described together in their article Two more remarkable new birds from Cuba in the journal Proceedings of the New England Club zoölogical the Zapataammer and the Cuba Rail. The Cuba Wren had been a year earlier, described in 1926, Barbour. In the summer of 1959, Dr. Albert Schwartz and Ronald Francis Klinikowski were sent to a collector field trip to Cuba. Schwartz should create a herpetologist studies on Cuba and the Isle of Pines with funding from the National Science Foundation. In addition, he collected some Cuban birds for the Reading Public Museum in Reading. On August 20, 1959, he collected two bellows of Zapataammer on the south coast of the province of Oriente, which were later typed as a new subspecies sigmani. The first description took Matthew J. Spence and Barton L. Smith in The Auk in her article A subspecies of Torreornis inexpectata from Cuba. It was not until the mid-seventies was discovered and described in 1981 by i varonai the Cuban biologist Pedro Regalado Ruiz another subspecies T.. Something was unclear in what magazine or when exactly this subspecies was described as James Bond quoted another source in Twenty -fourth supplement to a Checklist of the Birds of the West Indies. Recent findings assume that Bonds source does not correspond to the original publication.

The genus name Torreornis was used by the first author in honor of an old friend, the Cuban naturalist Carlos de la Torre y de la Huerta (1858-1950) and was combined with the Greek word " ornis " for " bird ." The specific epithet is derived from the Latin " inexpectatus " and means " unexpected ". The " sigmani " is an homage to the conservationists and birdwatchers Arthur Tucker Sigma from Elverson, Pennsylvania. The use of the name " varonai " to the Cuban independence fighters Enrique José Varona (1849-1933) honor.

After the discovery of two new subspecies of the known distribution of the species was no longer limited to the Zapata Swamp. Therefore, there have been proposals to rename the style in Cuba Ammer.

Protection status

Fires and cutting the grass, as well as drying out of the Zapata swamp endanger the existence of the nominate form. The previously relatively stable population is estimated at about 250 birds.

The burning of the ecosystem and constant Extending the grazing land for sheep farming jeopardize the continued existence of the subspecies T. i sigmani. The stock was previously estimated at 100 to 200 animals, so their range seems to be a bit bigger. It is estimated the stock of this subspecies today at 600 to 700 birds.

The area of Cayo Coco is opened up for tourism. The effects on the ecosystem by additional disturbances by humans are uncertain. At the moment, here lives a relatively large number of Zapataammern the subspecies T. i varonai.