Caribbean Elaenia
Description
The Caribbean elaenia (Elaenia martinica) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae found in the West Indies and parts of Central America. Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and heavily degraded former forest.
Distribution & Habitat
The Caribbean Elaenia occurs from Puerto Rico through the
islands of the eastern Caribbean,
as well as in the Cayman Islands,
some of The Bahamas, and
islands off the Yucatán Peninsula
(Oberle 2018). It is a common
resident in Puerto Rico, regularly
seen in the Boquerón Nature
Reserve and Guánica State Forest
(Oberle 2018), and in Vieques
(Gemmill 2015). The species is
believed to be a new arrival on
Puerto Rico, at least on the south
coast (Faaborg and others 1984),
likely colonizing from the Lesser
Antilles where it is common.
This species is common along
the lowland dry scrub forests especially along the south
coast (Oberle 2018). The atlas
fieldwork yielded a total of 145
records within 71 hexagons or 15
percent of the 479 total hexagons
(see map). Of the 71 hexagons
where this species was found,
breeding met the atlas definition
of confirmed in 13 percent (9)
of the hexagons, probable in 31
percent (22), and possible in 55
percent (39), while the species
was observed in 1 percent (1)
of the hexagons but without
evidence of breeding (see map). Caribbean Elaenia distribution. The map shows the highest breeding code by hexagon and overlaying the ecological life zones in Puerto Rico. Note: percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
Breeding Habits
The Caribbean Elaenia constructs a shallow cup of twigs nest
in a shrub or tree (Raffaele 205Caribbean Elaenia/Juí Blancoand others 1998). Atlas results indicate that the breeding activity
extends throughout the year but
overall increases from January
to July (see chart). Results show
that even though this species
breeds in all ecological life
zones, it is most often reported
from the subtropical dry and
subtropical moist forest life
zones (67 and 26 percent of the
hexagons, respectively) (see
table and map).
Conservation
The Caribbean Elaenia is classified as a species of least
concern by the IUCN (BirdLife
International 2017). Locally,
this species is not listed in any
of the threatened categories of
PRDNER or USFWS. In Puerto
Rico, the Caribbean Elaenia has
a protected habitat in land of
about 18 percent or 298 km2 of the total area covered by
the hexagons where evidence
of breeding was found for this
species (1673 km2).
Related Species
Family:
flycatcher