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Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge
Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge (Spanish: ''Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre de Cabo Rojo'') is an 1,836-acre National Wildlife Refuge located in southwestern Puerto Rico, in the municipality of Cabo Rojo. The refuge is a habitat for number of native bird species including the endangered yellow-shouldered blackbird, locally known as ''mariquita de Puerto Rico'' or ''capitán''. Many birds find their way to the refuge while migrating between North and South America, and more than 118 bird species have been recorded near the area. The Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge is administered as part of the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife complex. History The refuge was established in 1974, when 587 acres of land were obtained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from the Central Intelligence Agency which had operated the Caribbean Bureau of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service there for a number of years. In 1999, the FWS purchased and added to the refuge the Cabo R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated territories of the United States, unincorporated territory of the United States. It is located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately southeast of Miami, Florida, between the Dominican Republic and the United States Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and includes the eponymous main island and several smaller islands, such as Isla de Mona, Mona, Culebra, Puerto Rico, Culebra, and Vieques, Puerto Rico, Vieques. It has roughly 3.2 million residents, and its Capital city, capital and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, most populous city is San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan. Spanish language, Spanish and English language, English are the official languages of the executive branch of government, though Spanish predominates. Puerto Rico ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Critical Habitat
Critical habitat is a habitat area essential to the conservation of a listed species, though the area need not actually be occupied by the species at the time it is designated. This is a specific term and designation within the U.S. Endangered Species Act-ESA. Contrary to common belief, designating an area as critical habitat does not preclude that area from development. Rather, a critical habitat designation affects only federal agency actions. Such actions include federally funded activities or activities requiring a federal permit. Designation process Critical habitat must be designated for all threatened species and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, with certain specified exceptions. Designations of critical habitats must be based on the best scientific information available and in an open public process within specific timeframes. Unless deemed necessary for the species' continued existence, critical habitat do not include the entire geographical area oc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-eyed Coqui
The red-eyed coqui, ''churi, coqui churi'', or ''coqui de las Antillas'' (''Eleutherodactylus antillensis'') is a species of frog in the family Eleutherodactylidae that is found in Puerto Rico, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, and introduced to Panama. Although there are many similar species that are endemic to these tropical locations, its unique physical, habitual, and behavioral characteristics distinguish it from other members of the genus ''Eleutherodactylus''. This genus contains around 185 species that are located in the southern United States, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, with 16 different species endemic to Puerto Rico. The red-eyed coqui was not brought into Panama City from its native habitats until the late 1960s. There it became established in urban parks before it began to colonize outside the city in the 1980s. In Puerto Rico, the largest island inhabited by the red-eyed coqui, it is found up to 1,200 meters above sea level. It is often com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilson's Plover
Wilson's plover (''Charadrius wilsonia'') is a small bird of the family Charadriidae. It was named after the Scottish-American ornithologist Alexander Wilson by his friend George Ord in 1814. Wilson's plover is a coastal wader which breeds on both coasts of the Americas from the equator northwards. Its range extends north to include much of the U.S. eastern seaboard, and the Pacific coast of Mexico on the west. Range and habitat It is a partial migrant. Birds leave the United States, except Florida, to winter south in Brazil. Some Mexican birds leave in winter for Peru. Furthermore, a small resident population is known from Brazil, it being named as a new subspecies, ''brasiliensis'', in 2008. In 2012 it was established that this is a junior synonym, and the correct name for the subspecies is ''crassirostris''. This also means that one of the subspecies of the greater sand plover had to be renamed. This strictly coastal plover nests on a bare scrape on sandy beaches ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semipalmated Plover
The semipalmated plover (''Charadrius semipalmatus'') is a small plover. ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek ''kharadrios'' a bird found in ravines and river valleys (''kharadra'', "ravine"). The specific '' semipalmatus '' is Latin and comes from ''semi'', "half" and ''palma'', "palm". Like the English name, this refers to its only partially webbed feet. Description This species weighs and measures in length and across the wings.''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), . Adults have a grey-brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with one black neckband. They have a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask around the eyes and a short orange and black bill. Habitat Their breeding habitat is open ground on beaches or flats across northern Canada and Alaska. They nest on the ground in an open area with little or no plant g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venezuelan Troupial
The Venezuelan troupial (''Icterus icterus'') is the national bird of Venezuela. It is found in Colombia, Venezuela, and the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Trinidad, and Puerto Rico. Together with the orange-backed troupial and Campo troupial, it was previously part of a superspecies simply named the troupial that was Lumpers and splitters, split. Name The term ''troupial'' is from French ''troupiale'', from ''troupe'' (“troop”), so named because they live in flocks. The Latin name ''icterus'' is from Greek ἴκτερος (''íkteros'', “jaundice”); the ''icterus'' was a bird the sight of which was believed to cure jaundice, perhaps the Eurasian golden oriole. It also had the more general meaning "yellow bird", which is why the name was later given to this South American bird. Description Venezuelan troupials are fairly large in size, with a long tail and a bulky bill. It has a black head and upper breast. The feathers on the front of the neck and upper b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adelaide's Warbler
Adelaide's warbler (''Setophaga adelaidae'') is a bird endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico belonging to the genus ''Setophaga'' of the family Parulidae. The species is named after Adelaide Swift, daughter of Robert Swift, the person who captured the first specimen. Description The ''S. adelaidae'' complex was originally considered a single species, with three populations occurring in Barbuda, Puerto Rico and St. Lucia. Each of these populations were regarded as a subspecies, ''S.a. subita'', ''S.a. adelaidae'' and ''S.a. delicata'' respectively. These subspecies were later elevated to species rank as the Barbuda warbler (''Setophaga subita''), the St. Lucia warbler (''Setophaga delicata'') and Adelaide's warbler. In 2011, the American Ornithologists' Union reclassified the Parulidae, which resulted in ''D. adelaidae'' being transferred to genus ''Setophaga.'' Adelaide's warbler has gray upperparts with yellow underparts. The species has a yellow line above the eye and a w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Yellow Warbler
The yellow warbler (''Setophaga petechia'') is a New World warbler species. Yellow warblers are the most widespread species in the diverse genus '' Setophaga'', breeding in almost the whole of North America, the Caribbean, and down to northern South America. Etymology The genus name ''Setophaga'' is from Ancient Greek ''ses'', "moth", and ', "eating", and the specific ''petechia'' is from Italian ''petecchia'', a small red spot on the skin. The American yellow warbler is sometimes colloquially called the "summer yellowbird". Description and taxonomy Other than in male breeding plumage and body size, all warbler subspecies are very similar. Winter, female and immature birds all have similarly greenish-yellow uppersides and are a duller yellow below. Young males soon acquire breast and, where appropriate, head coloration. Females are somewhat duller, most notably on the head. In all, the remiges and rectrices are blackish olive with yellow edges, sometimes appearing as an in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black-necked Stilt
The black-necked stilt (''Himantopus mexicanus'') is a locally abundant shorebird of American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gulf of Mexico as far east as Florida, then south through Central America and the Caribbean to Brazil, Peru and the Galápagos Islands, with an isolated population, the Hawaiian stilt, in Hawaii. The northernmost populations, particularly those from inland, are migratory, wintering from the extreme south of the United States to southern Mexico, rarely as far south as Costa Rica; on the Baja California peninsula it is only found regularly in winter. Some authorities, including the IUCN, treat it as a subspecies of '' Himantopus himantopus''. Taxonomy It is often treated as a subspecies of the common or black-winged stilt, using the trinomial name ''Himantopus himantopus mexicanus''. However, the AOS has always considered it a species in its own ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smooth-billed Ani
The smooth-billed ani (''Crotophaga ani'') is a bird in the cuckoo family. It is a resident breeding species from southern Florida, the Caribbean, parts of Central America, south to western Ecuador, Brazil, northern Argentina and southern Chile. It was introduced to Galápagos around the 1960s and is potentially impacting native and endemic species across the archipelago. Taxonomy The smooth-billed ani was described and illustrated in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his ''Historia Naturalis Brasiliae''. He used the name "Ani" but did not explain the origin of the word. It probably comes from the word ''Anim'' in the Tupi language which means "social bird". In 1756 the Irish physician Patrick Browne used the name ''Crotophaga'' for the species in his ''The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica''. Browne's name combines the Ancient Greek ''krotōn'' meaning "tick" with ''-phagos'' meaning "-eating". Browne wrote that the smooth-billed anis "live chiefly upon ticks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Kestrel
The American kestrel (''Falco sparverius''), also called the sparrow hawk, is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. It has a roughly two-to-one range in size over subspecies and sex, varying in size from about the weight of a blue jay to a mourning dove. It also ranges to South America and is a well-established species that has evolved into 17 subspecies adapted to different environments and habitats throughout the Americas. It exhibits sexual dimorphism in size (females being moderately larger) and plumage, although both sexes have a rufous back with noticeable barring. Its plumage is colorful and attractive, and juveniles are similar in plumage to adults. The American kestrel usually hunts in energy-conserving fashion by perching and scanning the ground for prey to ambush, though it also hunts from the air. It sometimes hovers in the air with rapid wing beats while homing in on prey. Its diet typically consists of grasshoppers and other insects, lizards, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network
The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) is a conservation strategy targeting shorebirds in the Americas launched in 1985. Its aim is to protect the nesting, breeding and staging habitats of migratory shorebirds. The first site to be classified was Delaware Bay, which was dedicated in May 1986 as a site of Hemispheric Importance. Sites in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network may also be classified as Important Bird Areas, Ramsar wetlands of international importance, or both. There are three possible classifications for sites in the network. Landscapes are always classified as being of Hemispheric Importance. ;Hemispheric Importance :sites that act as staging, nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...ing or breeding grounds for at least ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
