Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T23:48:32.122Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The status of the Black Catbird Melanoptila glabrirostris on Caye Caulker, Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

Bruce Miller
Affiliation:
Gallon Jug, Belize, Central America
Carolyn Miller
Affiliation:
Gallon Jug, Belize, Central America
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

An evaluation of the relative abundance of the Black Catbird Melanoptila glabrirostris was undertaken on Caye Caulker, an offshore island along the barrier reef of Belize, Central America. Although the species is locally abundant in part of the Sian Kaàn Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, the species is facing habitat fragmentation and loss due to development, both along the Mexican coastal areas and on the island habitats in Belize. The Caye Caulker population appears to be the largest in Belize. Transects of fixed radius point counts resulted in 15.5% and mist-netting resulted in 22.4% of all birds recorded being Black Catbirds. The Neotropical migrant Grey Catbird Dumetella carolinensis apparently shares the same habitat on Caye Caulker and comprised 11.2% of all birds netted. The netted Black Catbirds were noted to have substantial fat deposits. The habitat on Caye Caulker is facing probable fragmentation from recent accelerated land speculation and development of an airstrip.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Birdlife International 1991

References

AOU (1983) Check-list of North American birds. Sixth edition. American Ornithologists' Union.Google Scholar
Atkinson, I. (1989) Introduced animals and extinctions. Pp. 5475 in D. Western and M. C. Pearl, eds. Conservation for the twenty-first century. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, J. (1989) Overview of recent extinctions. Pp. 3741 in D. Western and M. C. Pearl, eds. Conservation for the twenty-first century. New York: Oxford University Press. Edwards, E. P. (1989) A field guide to the birds of Mexico. Second edition. Sweet Briar, Virginia: Ernest P. Edwards.Google Scholar
Hutto, R. L., Pletschet, S. M. and Hendricks, P. (1986) A fixed-radius point-count method for nonbreeding and breeding season use. Auk 103: 593602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, W. B. (1985) Island birds: will the future repeat the past? Pp. 315 in P. J. Moors, ed. Conservation of island birds. Cambridge, U.K.: International Council for Bird Preservation (Techn. Publ. 3).Google Scholar
Ludwig, J. A. and Reynolds, J. F. (1988) Statistical ecology: a primer on methods and computing. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
MacArthur, R. H. and Wilson, E. O. (1967)The theory of island biogeography. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Phillips, A. R. (1987) The known birds of North and Middle America, Part 1: Hirundinidae to Mimidae; Certhiidae. Denver, Colorado: Denver Museum of Natural History.Google Scholar
Ridgely, R. S. and Gwynne, J. A. (1989) Birds of Panama with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Second edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Russell, S. M. (1964) A distributional study of the birds of British Honduras. American Ornithologists' Union (Orn. Monogr. 1).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smithe, F. B. (1975) Naturalist's color guide. New York: American Museum of Natural History.Google Scholar
Veitch, C. R. (1985) Methods of eradicating feral cats from offshore islands in New Zealand. Pp. 125141 in Moors, P. J., ed. Conservation of island birds. Cambridge, U.K.: International Council for Bird Preservation (Techn. Publ. 3).Google Scholar