Antillean Mango (Anthracothorax dominicus)

Antillean Mango

Description

The Antillean mango (Anthracothorax dominicus) is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found on the Caribbean islands of Hispaniola (both the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico, the British Virgin Islands, and the Virgin Islands, U.S.. Females and young birds are white-gray breasted. Adult females have a red-terracota colored tail with small white tips at the end.

Distribution And Habitat

The Antillean Mango is a Caribbean endemic and common resident species in Puerto Rico (Raffaele and others 1998), especially in the lowlands (Oberle 2018), and it is an extremely rare former breeder on Vieques (Gemmill 2015). This species is the most abundant hummingbird in forested habitats, scrub, clearings in dry and moist forests in the south coasts, and the hills of northern Puerto Rico (Biaggi 1997, Oberle 2018), and it is also present in gardens and coffee plantations (Raffaele and others 1998). The atlas fieldwork yielded a total of 401 records within 253 hexagons or 53 percent of the 479 total hexagons (see map). Of the 253 hexagons where this species was found, breeding met the atlas definition of confirmed in 11 percent (28) of the hexagons, probable in 20 percent (51), and possible in 69 percent (174) (see map). Antillean Mango 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 Antillean Mango constructs a cup-shaped nest on a branch, from March to August, according to previously published reports (Raffaele and others 1998). Atlas results indicate that this species breeding season extends throughout the year, but it is most active from March to July 81Antillean Mango/Zumbador Dorado (see chart). Results show that this species uses all ecological life zones to breed, but breeding occurs most commonly in the subtropical moist forest life zone (65 percent of the hexagons), followed by the subtropical dry and subtropical wet forest life zones (23 and 12 percent of the hexagons, respectively) (see table and map). Breeding was also reported for one hexagon in the subtropical rain forest life zone.

Conservation

The population trend for the Antillean Mango across its distribution range is unknown, and since it is relatively common, it is listed as a species of least concern by the IUCN (BirdLife International 2016), while locally this species is not listed in any of the threatened categories used by PRDNER and USFWS. The Antillean Mango, once formerly common on Vieques (Wetmore 1916), declined with the spread of the Green-throated Carib on this island (Gemmill 2015). Whether the mango population decline on Vieques is attributable to competition with the Green- throated Carib and/or due to habitat change on this island is unknown. However, given this history of the mangos decline on Vieques and the relatively recent arrival of the Green-throated Carib on Puerto Rico, it would be prudent to carefully monitor the mango population on Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, the Antillean Mango has a protected habitat in land of 12 percent or 720 km2 of the total area covered by the hexagons where evidence of breeding was found for this species (6050 km2).