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Yellow-shouldered Blackbird
The yellow-shouldered blackbird (''Agelaius xanthomus''), known in Puerto Rican Spanish as ''mariquita de Puerto Rico'' or ''capitán'', is a species of blackbird endemic to Puerto Rico. It has black plumage with a prominent yellow patch on the wing. Adult males and females are of similar appearance. The species is predominantly insectivorous. Taxonomy The nominate form of the yellow-shouldered blackbird (''A. x. xanthomus'') was first described from Puerto Rico and Vieques in 1862 by Philip Sclater as ''Icterus xanthomus''. The recognized subspecies ''A. x. monensis'', or Mona yellow-shouldered blackbird, was described by Barnes in 1945 from the islands of Mona and Monito. The species is closely related to, and possibly derived from, the red-winged blackbird (''Agelaius phoeniceus''). The tawny-shouldered blackbird (''Agelaius humeralis''), a species from Cuba and Hispaniola, is morphologically intermediate between ''A. xanthomus'' and ''A. phoeniceus''. Until recently, some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Sclater
Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an England, English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological Society of London for 42 years, from 1860–1902. Early life Sclater was born at Tangier Park, in Wootton St Lawrence, Hampshire, where his father William Lutley Sclater had a country house. George Sclater-Booth, 1st Baron Basing was Philip's elder brother. Philip grew up at Hoddington House where he took an early interest in birds. He was educated in school at Twyford and at thirteen went to Winchester College and later Corpus Christi College, Oxford where he studied scientific ornithology under Hugh Edwin Strickland. In 1851 he began to study law and was admitted a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. In 1856 he travelled to America and visited Lake Superior and the upper St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota), St. Croix River, cano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexual Dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most animals and some plants. Differences may include secondary sex characteristics, size, weight, colour, markings, or behavioural or cognitive traits. These differences may be subtle or exaggerated and may be subjected to sexual selection and natural selection. The opposite of dimorphism is ''monomorphism'', which is when both biological sexes are phenotypically indistinguishable from each other. Overview Ornamentation and coloration Common and easily identified types of dimorphism consist of ornamentation and coloration, though not always apparent. A difference in coloration of sexes within a given species is called sexual dichromatism, which is commonly seen in many species of birds and reptiles. Sexual selection leads to the exaggerated dim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shiny Cowbird
The shiny cowbird (''Molothrus bonariensis'') is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds in most of South America except for dense forests and areas of high altitude such as mountains. Since 1900 the shiny cowbird's range has shifted northward, and it was recorded in the Caribbean islands as well as the United States, where it is found breeding in southern Florida. It is a bird associated with open habitats, including disturbed land from agriculture and deforestation. Adults are sexually dimorphic. Males are all black with a purple-blue iridescence. The female is smaller, with dull brown plumage that is sometimes paler on the underparts. Females of the species can be distinguished from the female brown-headed cowbird by their longer, finer bills and flatter heads. The shiny cowbird's diet consists mainly of insects, other arthropods and seeds, and they have been recorded foraging for grains in cattle troughs. Like most other cowbirds, it is an obligate brood ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brood Parasite
Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's. The evolutionary strategy relieves the parasitic parents from the investment of rearing young. This benefit comes at the cost of provoking an evolutionary arms race between parasite and host as they coevolve: many hosts have developed strong defenses against brood parasitism, such as recognizing and ejecting parasitic eggs, or abandoning parasitized nests and starting over. It is less obvious why most hosts do care for parasite nestlings, given that for example cuckoo chicks differ markedly from host chicks in size and appearance. One explanation, the mafia hypothesis, proposes that parasitic adults retaliate by destroying host nests where rejection has occurred; there is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puerto Rican Moist Forests
The Puerto Rican moist forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in Puerto Rico. They cover an area of . Lowland forests Lowland forests are found throughout the island's coastal lowlands except for the dry southwest. Characteristic tree species include ''Hymenaea courbaril'', Palma de Coroso (''Acrocomia media''), ''Nectandra coriacea'', and ''Zanthoxylum martinicense''. Trees reach a height of in the northern portions, but are shorter elsewhere. Several species are adapted to dry periods by being deciduous or semi-deciduous. Montane forests Montane forests cover the Sierra de Luquillo and the higher peaks of the Cordillera Central. Trees at middle elevations reach a height of and a diameter of . Common trees of the Sierra de Luquillo include ''Cyathea arborea'', ''Prestoea acuminata'', ''Cecropia peltata'', and ''Ocotea'' species. ''Weinmannia pinnata'', ''Brunellia comocladifolia'', and ''Podocarpus coriaceus'' are found in the cloud forests of the highest pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lares, Puerto Rico
Lares (, ) is a mountain town and municipality of Puerto Rico's central-western area. Lares is located north of Maricao and Yauco; south of Camuy, east of San Sebastián and Las Marias; and west of Hatillo, Utuado and Adjuntas. Lares is spread over 10 barrios and Lares Pueblo (Downtown Lares). It is part of the Aguadilla-Isabela-San Sebastián Metropolitan Statistical Area. A city adorned with Spanish-era colonial-style churches and small downtown stores, Lares is located on a breezy area that is about 1.5 hours from San Juan by car. Lares was the site of the 1868 ''El Grito de Lares'' (literally, ''The Cry of Lares'', or Lares Revolt), an uprising brought on by pro-independence rebels who wanted Puerto Rico to gain its freedom from Spain. Even though it was soon extinguished it remains an iconic historical event in the history of the island. History Lares was founded on April 26, 1827, by Francisco de Sotomayor and Pedro Vélez Borrero, who named the town after Amador ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subtropical Dry Forest
The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons that last several months and vary with geographic location. These seasonal droughts have great impact on all living things in the forest. Deciduous trees predominate in most of these forests, and during the drought a leafless period occurs, which varies with species type. Because trees lose moisture through their leaves, the shedding of leaves allows trees such as teak and mountain ebony to conserve water during dry periods. The newly bare trees open up the canopy layer, enabling sunlight to reach ground level and facilitate the growth of thick underbrush. Trees on moister sites and those with access to ground water tend to be evergreen. Infertile sites also tend to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several plant families. They occur worldwide in the tropics and subtropics and even some temperate coastal areas, mainly between latitudes 30° N and 30° S, with the greatest mangrove area within 5° of the equator. Mangrove plant families first appeared during the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene epochs, and became widely distributed in part due to the plate tectonics, movement of tectonic plates. The oldest known fossils of Nypa fruticans, mangrove palm date to 75 million years ago. Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees, also called halophytes, and are adapted to live in harsh coastal conditions. They contain a complex salt filtration system and a complex root system to cope with saltwater immersion and wave action. They are ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puerto Rican Dry Forests
The Puerto Rican dry forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion located in southwestern and eastern Puerto Rico and on the offshore islands. They cover an area of . These forests grow in areas receiving less than of rain annually. Many of the trees are deciduous, losing their leaves during the dry season which normally lasts from December to April. Geography The dry forest life zone exist in two areas on the island of Puerto Rico - along the south coast of the island (in the dry orographic rain shadow of the Cordillera Central) and in the northeastern corner of the island near Fajardo, where the combination of low elevation and strong winds off the ocean result in a dry environment. Dry forests also exist on the adjacent off-shore islands of Culebra, Mona, Monito, Desecheo, Caja de Muertos, Cayo Santiago and most of the island of Vieques. Dry forests along the south coast cover a strip of land from Guayama in the east to Cabo Rojo in the west, and extends inland fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station is a former United States Navy base in the town of Ceiba, Puerto Rico. The site operates today as José Aponte de la Torre Airport, a public use airport. History In 1919, future US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, toured Puerto Rico, visiting Ceiba. When he returned to the White House, he expressed a liking for the terrain where the base was to be located. This was during the World War I era, and the US could benefit from an air field in Ceiba. While Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth, its territorial rights belong to the US, which made it feasible for the US government to build an air base in Ceiba. It took many years for the US to become convinced of the need for an air base in Ceiba. When Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany began to invade other European countries, the US, led by then President Roosevelt, considered the idea of a naval air station in Ceiba. With war in the European and Pacific theatres, they saw an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mona Island
Mona ( es, Isla de Mona) is the third-largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands in the Mona Passage, a strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the others being Monito Island and Desecheo Island. It measures about 7 miles by 4 miles (11 km by 7 km), and lies west of Puerto Rico, of which it is administratively a part. It is one of two islands that make up the Isla de Mona e Islote Monito barrio in the municipality of Mayagüez. The island is managed under the Mona and Monito Islands Nature Reserve (''Reserva Natural Islas de Mona y Monito''). There are no native inhabitants; only rangers and biologists from the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources reside on the island, to manage visitors and take part in research projects. The island, along with Monito, form part of the Mona and Monito Islands National Natural Landmark which recognizes an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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