Santa Barbara Singing Bammer
| Santa Barbara Singing Bammer | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Melospiza melodia graminea | ||||||||||||
| CH Townsend , 1890 |
The Santa Barbara song bammer ( Melospiza melodia graminea ) is an extinct subspecies of the song bammer that was endemic to Santa Barbara Island in the California Channel Islands .
description
The Santa Barbara singing hammer reached a length of 14.0 to 15.5 cm. The wing length was 57.2 to 63.5 mm and the beak length 10.2 to 11.7 mm. The top was brownish gray. The underside was dashed in black and white. There was a black mark on the chest.
habitat
Santa Barbara Island is located 61 km south of the California coast and has an area of 2.6 km². There is no constant fresh water on the island. Annual rainfall is 12 inches, but fog is common. Until the 1950s, thick, tall grass and the species Coreopsis gigantea, which belongs to the girl's eyes, dominated the island. The singing chambers stayed where the thicket offered the best protection.
Way of life
The Santa Barbara song bunting was a strictly territorial bird. Nothing is known about foraging for food, but it is believed that the Santa Barbara song bunting, similar to the other subspecies, ate seeds and insects. The nests were made in the sparse bushes that grew in the ravines and on the slopes. The placement of the nest was on transverse branches. The lining consisted of yellowish grasses that contrasted with the long brown grass stalks that made up the nest structure. Breeding parents and adult fledglings have been observed in May and June. Clutches of two to five eggs have become known. The eggs were 15.5 to 19.8 mm in length and 14.5 to 16.3 mm in diameter.
die out
In the early 20th century, the grasslands on Santa Barbara Island were greatly altered as a result of agricultural use and overgrazing by domestic goats and rabbits. While the Santa Barbara singing hammer was still described as frequent around 1908, the population decreased more and more in the course of the following decades, which was probably reinforced by the re-enactment of feral domestic cats. In 1959 the habitat of the singing chambers was almost completely destroyed in a fire. The fire was so intense that two-thirds of the island was bare except for the mineral floor. The last confirmed sighting of this subspecies was in August 1967. In 1973 the taxon was added to the list of endangered bird taxa under the statutes of the Endangered Species Act . After intensive searches failed in 1972 and between 1974 and 1978, the Santa Barbara Singing Chamber was declared extinct in 1983 by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service .
literature
- National Fish and Wildlife Laboratory and US Fish and Wildlife Service: Selected vertebrate endangered species of the seacoast of the United States , 1980 Online