Polioptila melanura

• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• Bibliography
• More Info
• Notes

Common Names

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Description

Family Certhiidae

A Family of small passerine woodland birds, consisting of two subfamilies. Typically brown above and white below, they have thin pointed down-curved bills, which they use to extricate insects from bark . Like woodpeckers, they have stiff tail feathers which they use to support themselves vertically trees .

Physical Description

Habitat

Vegetation: arid lowland scrubs, arid montane scrubs • Maximum Elevation: 2,100 meters • Foraging Strata: Understory/undergrowth • Center of Abundance: Lower subtropical: lowlands, lower than 500 m.; subtropics. • Sensitivity to Disturbancet: Medium

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,388 meters (0 to 7,835 feet).Mean = 762.290 meters (2,500.951 feet), Standard Deviation = 404.950 based on 3,494 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre.

Ecology:
List of Habitats :3.5Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry 3.7Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude

Biology

Diet

Exclusively: Insects

Reproduction

• Breeding Habitat : Successional-scrub
• Nest Location: Ground-low nesting
• Nest Type: Open-cup
• Clutch Size: 4
• Length of Incubation : 14? days
• Days to Fledge : 9-15
• Number of Broods: ?

Migration

Nonmigratory

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001.

Similar Species

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Black-Capped Gnatcatcher

Members of the genus Polioptila

There are approximately 48 species in this genus:

P. albiloris · P. albiloris albiloris · P. albiloris vanrossemi · P. bilineata · P. caerula · P. caerulea (Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher) · P. caerulea amoeniccima · P. caerulea amoenissima · P. caerulea caerulea (Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher) · P. caerulea cozumelae · P. caerulea deppei · P. caerulea obscura · P. californic · P. californica (California Gnatcatcher) · P. californica atwoodi · P. californica californica (Coastal California Gnatcatcher) · P. clementsi · P. coerulea · P. dumicola · P. dumicola berlepschi · P. dumicola dumicola · P. dumicola ssp · P. guianensis · P. lactea (Creamy-Bellied Gnatcatcher) · P. lembeyei (Cuban Gnatcatcher) · P. leucogastra · P. maior · P. melanura (Black-Tailed Gnatcacher) · P. melanura californica · P. melanura lucida · P. melanura margaritae · P. melanura melanura · P. melanura pontilis · P. nigriceps (Black-Capped Gnatcatcher) · P. nigriceps amoenissima · P. plumbea · P. plumbea atricapilla · P. plumbea bairdi · P. plumbea bilineata · P. plumbea brodkorbi · P. plumbea daguae · P. plumbea innotata · P. plumbea maior · P. plumbea plumbea · P. plumbea plumbiceps · P. plumbea superciliaris · P. restricta · P. schistaceigula

Bibliography

• Alsop, Fred J. III. Birds of North America - Eastern Region. First American Edition. Smithsonian Handbooks. DK Publishing, Inc. 2001.
• Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, A. L. Gardner, and W. C. Starnes 2003. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada.
• Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, and A. L. Gardner 1987. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. Resource Publication, no. 166. United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, D.C., USA. 79.
• Bird Reference Citations. The numbers inserted in the text accounts above (usually in bold) refer to references. For further details on these references, click on the BirdLife International link above to go to the specific species account on the BirdLife web site. In some cases, particularly in the taxonomic notes, the references are cited using the author names. Details for these can be found on the BirdLife International web site at the following two places: For References from A–L. For References from M–Z.
• BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, U.K.
• BirdLife International. 2004 Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.
• Ehrlich, P., Dobkin, D., and Wheye, D. (1988). The Birders Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. (info on clutch size, length of incubation, days to fledge and number of broods.)
• Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc. (Length and wingspan info.)

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed October 12, 2006.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 11, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 4 providers.
• Hines, J. E., Gregory Gough, J. R. Sauer, et al. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
• NatureServe. 2003. Downloadable animal data sets. NatureServe Central Databases. Accessed February 6, 2005.
• Parker III, T.A., D.F. Stotz, and J.W. Fitzpatrick, and quot;Ecological and Distributional Databases for Neotropical Birds, and quot; in Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation, by D.F. Stotz, T.A. Parker III, J.W. Fitzpatrick, and D.K. Moskovits (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). ISBN 0-226-64676-9.
• Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2004. Version 2005.2. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• Sauer, J. R., S. Schwartz, and B. Hoover. 1996. The Christmas Bird Count Home Page. Version 95.1. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• Universal Biological Indexer and Organizer. uBio.org accessed July 17, 2008.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 11, 2008:

• Avian Knowledge Network: eBird
• Avian Knowledge Network: Great Backyard Bird Count
• Avian Knowledge Network: Project FeederWatch
• Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics
• Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History: Santa Barbara Musem of Natural History
• UNIBIO, IBUNAM: CNAV/Coleccion Nacional de Aves

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3848384
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-179862
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13849042
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 179857
• IUCN ID: 52059
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ABPBJ08030
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 11726

Footnotes

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