Puerto Rican oriole

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Puerto Rican oriole

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Icteridae
Genus: Icterus
Species:
I. portoricensis
Binomial name
Icterus portoricensis
H. Bryant, 1866

The Puerto Rican oriole (Icterus portoricensis) is a species of bird in the family

New World blackbirds. This species is a part of a subgroup of orioles (Clade A) that includes the North American orchard oriole, Icterus spurius, and the hooded oriole
, Icterus cucullatus.

The Puerto Rican oriole was previously grouped with

American Ornithologists' Union.[2]

Habitat

The oriole is

endemic to Puerto Rico. Its natural habitats are the tropical forests, mangrove forests, and plantations. The bird also shows a natural preference for nesting in palm trees.[3]

Behavior

After breeding, adult Puerto Rican orioles and their young will remain together in a family group. It primarily forages in dense vegetation looking for a wide range of foods that includes fruits, insects, lizards, and nuts and grains.[3]

Description

Males and females are similar in size and color. Males weigh about 41.0 grams and females weigh about 36.6 g. The average wingspan of males and females is 96.9 and 92.1 mm, respectively.[4] In 2008, Hofmann, Cronin, and Omland, conducted a study that showed there is little color difference in the feathers between the males and females of many tropical orioles, including the Puerto Rican oriole.[5] This means that males and females both have elaborate colors, in contrast many temperate-zoned birds have brightly colored males and dull colored females.

Adults are black with yellow on their lower belly and shoulder. The closely related Hispaniolan oriole (Icterus dominicensis) and Bahama oriole (Icterus northropi) have more yellow on their bodies, but, the Cuban oriole (Icterus melanopsis) has more black.[3]

ancestral state
for the genus Icterus.

Communication

Both males and females of the Puerto Rican oriole sing with no obvious difference in song structure. The

temperate-zone birds, which do not exhibit female song, it has historically been assumed that only males of the Puerto Rican orioles sing.[7] However, in 2009, Price, Lanyon, and Omland conducted a study that shows that both males and females of many tropical orioles sing.[8] This has been substantiated by 2016 documentation of female song in Puerto Rican orioles by Campbell et al., proving that song is not a method of communication solely possessed by males.[9]
The research theorizes that the prevalence of female song correlates to a tropical lifestyle wherein there is increased female-female competition and territory defense that necessitates such communication. Additionally, ancestral state reconstruction of the Caribbean oriole clade shows that female song is an ancestral trait.

Reproduction

Most members of this genus are thought to be

shiny cowbird, especially in coastal habitats.[3]

See also

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22736385A95132520.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Chesser, R. T., R. C. Banks, F. K. Barker, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, A. W. Kratter, I. J. Lovette, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr, J. D. Rising , D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2010. Fifty-first supplement to the American Ornithologists’ Union Check-list of North American Birds. Auk 127(3):726-744.
  3. ^ a b c d e Jaramillo, A., P. Burke. 1999. New World Blackbirds. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  4. ^ a b c d Garrido, O., J. Wiley, A. Kirkconnell. 2005. Genus Icterus in the West Indies. Ornitologia Neotropical, 16: 449-470.
  5. ^ Hofmann, C., T. Cronin, K. Omland. 2008. Evolution of sexual dichromatism. 1. convergent losses of elaborate female coloration in New World orioles (Icterus spp.).Auk, 125: 778-789.
  6. ^ Price, J., N. Friedman, K. Omland. 2007. Song and plumage evolution in the New World orioles (Icterus) show similar lability and convergence in patterns. Evolution, 61: 850-863
  7. ISSN 0003-3472
    .
  8. ^ Price, J., S. Lanyon, K. Omland. 2009. Losses of female song with changes from tropical to temperate breeding in the New World blackbirds. Proceedings Royal Society of London, Biological Sciences, 276: 1971-1980.
  9. ^ Campbell, S.K., A.L. Morales-Perez, J.F. Malloy, O.C. Muellerklein, J.A. Kim, K.J. Odom, and K.E. Omland. 2016. Documentation of female song in a newly recognized species, the Puerto Rican Oriole (Icterus portoricensis). Journal of Caribbean Ornithology 29:28–36

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