São Tomé spectacle bird
| São Tomé spectacle bird | ||||||||||||
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São Tomé Spectacled Bird ( Zosterops feae ) |
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| Zosterops feae | ||||||||||||
| Salvadori , 1901 |
The São Tomé spectacled bird ( Zosterops feae ) is a songbird species from the spectacled bird family (Zosteropidae). He is on the island of São Tomé in the Gulf of Guinea endemic . For a long time it was considered a subspecies of the Principe- Spectacled Bird ( Zosterops ficedulinus ). A 2011 genetic study suggested a species status, which was adopted in the same year by the World Bird List of the International Ornithological Congress and in 2016 by the Handbook of the Birds of the World , BirdLife International, and the IUCN . The art epithet honors its discoverer, the Italian explorer Leonardo Fea .
features
The body length is 10.5 cm, the weight 6 to 10.7 g. Compared to the formerly conspecific Príncipe spectacle bird, the adult birds of the São Tomé spectacle bird are a little darker and uniformly greenish on the upper side and on the top of the head. The lower throat, chest, and flanks are grayer. The rear flanks have yellow-brown or cinnamon-brown spots. The underside is more yellowish. The white eye ring and the white tufted under wing-coverts are densely feathered. The forehead and chin are strikingly yellow. The beak is pink or orange-pink, occasionally with a gray patch at the tip of the upper beak. The barrel is pink throughout, while in the Principe spectacle bird it is sometimes gray. The sexes look the same. The juvenile birds can hardly be distinguished from the adult birds, with the exception of the generally paler plumage. Depending on the age of the young bird, the fletching around the eyes can still grow. The tip of the beak is usually lighter gray in juveniles than in the adult specimens.
Vocalizations
The powerful morning song consists of a monotonous, persistent and rapid sequence of three to six rasping ptirrr tones, with the last note being more strongly emphasized. A more complex chant can be heard during the day, made up of rasping, metallic and musical tones, and is played especially during the last hour of daylight. The contact calls appear to be similar to those of the Principe Spectacle Bird, but may be deeper. Compared to the mourning spectacle bird ( Zosterops lugubris ), the chirping tones of the São Tomé spectacle bird should be quieter and higher.
habitat
The São Tomé spectacle bird inhabits dense, primary and degraded rainforests as well as dry forest areas and isolated large trees in the savannah from sea level to altitudes of 1600 m. It is mainly found at altitudes above 400 m. He prefers forest areas that are affected by moderate anthropogenic disturbances.
Way of life
The São Tomé spectacled bird searches for food in pairs, in family groups or in flocks of up to 20 individuals in the middle tree level. You can often see it in mixed flocks with the mourning goggle bird , the São Tomé prinie , the steel paradise flycatcher and the yellow breasted nectar bird . Its diet is frugivorous and insectivorous, with insects being picked up from branches, leaves, and other vegetation. Fledglings were observed in February. More is not known about the reproductive behavior of this species.
status
In 2018 the IUCN changed the status from "vulnerable" to " near threatened ". The population is currently estimated at 2,500 to 10,000 adult birds. The species was still widespread in the 1920s, but by the 1970s it was already considered rare due to a worrying population decline. In 1990 the São Tomé spectacled bird was generally considered rare or only locally common. The population appears to be fluctuating, but is currently seen as largely stable, although clearing high-altitude rainforest poses a threat to cocoa plantations . In the past, large parts of the primary forest were cleared for cocoa and coffee plantations . Today, land privatization is leading to an increase in the number of smallholders and the clearing of trees, especially in the north of the island, while road construction along the east and west coasts of São Tomé facilitates access to previously remote areas.
literature
- Phil Atkinson, Nic Peet, James Alexander: The status and conservation of the endemic bird species of São Tomé and Príncipe, West Africa. In: Bird Conservation International. Volume 1, No. 3, September 1991, pp. 255-282, doi : 10.1017 / S0959270900000629 .
- Martim Melo, Ben H Warren, Peter JH Jones: Rapid parallel evolution of aberrant traits in the diversification of the Gulf of Guinea white-eyes (Aves, Zosteropidae). In Molecular Ecology. Volume 20, No. 23, 2011, pp. 4953-4967.
- Bárbara de Castro Marques Arez Madeira: Sexual dimorphism and reproductive phenology of common birds in São Tomé Island - conservation implications Master's thesis in biology and nature conservation at the Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências Departamento de Biologia Animal, Ciências ULisboa, 2018.
- J. del Hoyo, N. Collar, GM Kirwan: Sao Tome White-eye (Zosterops feae) . In: J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, DA Christie, E. de Juana (Eds.): Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, accessed December 11, 2018.
Web links
- BirdLife International: Species Factsheet - Zosterops feae
- Zosterops feae inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018.2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Martim Melo, Ben H Warren, Peter JH Jones: Rapid parallel evolution of aberrant traits in the diversification of the Gulf of Guinea white-eyes (Aves, Zosteropidae). In: Molecular Ecology. Volume 20, No. 23, 2011, pp. 4953-4967.