Puerto Rican Bullfinch
Description
The Puerto Rican bullfinch (Melopyrrha portoricensis) or comeñame in Spanish, is a small bullfinch tanager endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico. These were previously considered Emberizidae.
The Puerto Rican bullfinch has black feathers with orange areas above the eyes, around its throat, and underneath the tail's base. The species measures from 17 to 19 cm and weighs approximately 32 grams.
Distribution & Habitat
The Puerto Rican Bullfinch is endemic to Puerto Rico (Raffaele
and others 1998), but it is absent
from the far eastern end of
the main island and Vieques
(Gemmill 2015, Oberle 2018).
The bullfinch is common in
forests at all elevations and
coffee plantations as well as
dry coastal thickets, but it is
rare in mangroves (Oberle
2018, Raffaele 1989a). The atlas
fieldwork yielded a total of 548
records within 269 hexagons
or 56 percent of the total 479
hexagons (see map). Of the 269
hexagons where this species was found, breeding met the
atlas definition of confirmed in
4 percent (10) of the hexagons,
probable in 34 percent (92),
and possible in 62 percent
(167). Atlas results confirm the
bullfinchs absence in at least the
lowlands of eastern Puerto Rico
and on Vieques and Culebra
(see map). Puerto Rican Bullfinch 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
Previously published reports indicate that the Puerto Rican
Bullfinch mainly breeds from
March to June (Raffaele and
others 1998). This species usually 287Puerto Rican Bullfinch/Comeñameplaces its nest on trees or shrubs, close to the ground (Biaggi
1997). Atlas findings support the
breeding information found in
the literature, including evidence
that breeding may occur outside
of the peak MarchJune period
(see chart). Results show that this
species mostly breeds within the
subtropical moist forest life zone
(54 percent of the hexagons)
and subtropical wet and lower
montane wet forest life zones
(31 percent of the hexagons). Although this species seems
to be widely distributed across
the central mountains of the
main island, there is only one
confirmed breeding record in
the subtropical rain and lower
montane rain forest life zones
(see table and map).
Conservation
The Puerto Rican Bullfinch is listed as a species of least
concern by the IUCN (BirdLife International 2016). Locally,
this species was listed as Data
Deficient in 2005, but more
recent assessments categorize it
as Low Risk (PRDNER 2015). In
Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican
Bullfinch has a protected habitat
in land of 15 percent or 959 km2 of the total area covered by
the hexagons where evidence
of breeding was found for this
species (6437 km2).
Related Species
Family:
tanager