The Bahama yellowthroat (''Geothlypis rostrata'') is a

New World warbler The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds that make up the family Parulidae and are restricted to the New World. The family contains 120 species. They are not closely related to Old World warb ...

. It is a resident breeder

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

Taxonomy

It is closely related to

common yellowthroat The common yellowthroat (''Geothlypis trichas'') is a New World warbler. It is an abundant breeder in North America, ranging from southern Canada to central Mexico. The genus name ''Geothlypis'' is from Ancient Greek ''geo'', "ground", and ''thl ...

Altamira yellowthroat The Altamira yellowthroat (''Geothlypis flavovelata'') is a New World warbler. It is a resident breeding bird endemic to the Gulf slope of north-eastern Mexico.Curson, Quinn and Beadle, ''New World Warblers'' Taxonomy It is closely related t ...

and

Belding's yellowthroat Belding's yellowthroat (''Geothlypis beldingi'') is a New World warbler. It is a resident breeder endemic to the southern Baja California Peninsula (Mexico). It is closely related to common yellowthroat, Altamira yellowthroat and Bahama yello ...

, and is also considered conspecific with these

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

Subspecies

Four

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

have been recognised:

Description

Bahama yellowthroat is long with a large bill. The adult male of the nominate race ''G. r. rostrata'', found on

Andros Andros (, ) is the northernmost island of the Greece, Greek Cyclades archipelago, about southeast of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . It is for the most part mountainous, with many fruitful and ...

and

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in The Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. On the eastern side of the island is the national capital, national capital city of Nassau, Bahamas, Nassau; it had a population of 246 ...

islands has an olive-green back and mainly yellow underparts, slightly paler on the belly. It has a black facemask and grey forecrown. The female is similar, but lacks the black mask and has a grey crown; she may have a whiter belly. The adult male of ''G. r. tanneri'', found on

Grand Bahama Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is roughly in area and approximately long west to east and at it ...

Great Abaco The Abaco Islands lie in the north of The Bahamas, about 193 miles (167.7 nautical miles or 310.6 km) east of Miami, Florida, US. The main islands are Great Abaco and Little Abaco, which is just west of Great Abaco's northern tip. There are ...

and associated islands, has a yellow tinge to the forecrown band, and ''G. r. coryi'' of

Eleuthera Eleuthera () refers both to a single island in the archipelagic state of the The Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to its associated group of smaller islands. Eleuthera forms a part of the Great Bahama Bank. The island of Eleuthera incor ...

and

Cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

islands has a mainly yellow forecrown. The Bahama yellowthroat can be distinguished from wintering common yellowthroats by its greater size, heavier bill and slower, more deliberate movements. Males additionally have more extensively yellow underparts, a larger facemask extending onto the nape, and in the case of ''coryi'' the distinctive yellow forecrown. Females have a grey wash to the head not shown by common yellowthroat. The song of Bahama yellowthroat is a loud ''wichety wichety wichety wich'', similar to that of common yellowthroat. The call is a softer ''jip'' than that of common yellowthroat.

Ecology

The breeding habitat of the Bahama yellowthroat is dense dry or damp low scrub, usually drier than the areas used by

wintering Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Differe ...

common yellowthroats. It builds a cup nest low in dense vegetation or a tree stump, and lays two eggs. Like other

yellowthroat The yellowthroats are New World warblers in the genus ''Geothlypis''. Most members of the group have localised ranges in Mexico and Central America, but the masked yellowthroat has an extensive South American distribution, while the common yell ...

s, it forages low in vegetation and feeds on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and other small

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

Conservation

This species is common, but is outnumbered in winter by migrant common yellowthroats.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Description

Ecology

Conservation

References

Further reading