The Sierra Madre sparrow (''Xenospiza baileyi''), also known as Bailey's sparrow, is an endangered, range-restricted, enigmatic
American sparrow
New World sparrows are a group of mainly New World passerine birds, forming the family Passerellidae. They are seed-eating birds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns.
Although they share t ...
. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...
to
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and is threatened with
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
ion through
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
loss.
Etymology
The genus name ''Xenospiza'' is from the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
''
xénos'' (ξένος), "a stranger", and ''spíza'' (σπίζα), "finch". The species name ''baileyi'' is a dedication to
Alfred M. Bailey, who collected the 1931 specimen for
Outram Bangs Outram Bangs (January 12, 1863 – September 22, 1932) was an American zoologist.
Biography
Bangs was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, as the second son of Edward and Annie Outram (Hodgkinson) Bangs. He studied at Harvard from 1880 to 1884, and be ...
.
History and taxonomy
The Sierra Madre sparrow was first discovered by scientists in the
Sierra de Bolaños near
Bolaños,
Jalisco
Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...
, in 1889. The eight specimens shot then were not recognized as what they were, but believed to be aberrant
Savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
or
Mexican Plateau song sparrows, or
hybrids. Only when another bird was taken near the
city of Durango in 1931 was it recognized as a valid and distinct
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
.
The southern population was discovered only in 1945, but has been observed since then in several areas around
Distrito Federal
A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they e ...
,
Morelos
Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...
, and
Estado de México
The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...
. Between 1951, when 5 were taken near
El Salto, and 2004, when a small population was rediscovered in the same area, the northern population from Jalisco and
Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
states was not found and believed to have disappeared. Meanwhile, the proposed
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
''X. b. sierrae'' for the southern population was recognized to be based on individual variation and hence invalid; nonetheless, there is no
gene flow
In population genetics, gene flow (also known as gene migration or geneflow and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent a ...
between the populations and they constitute two separate
ESUs
Esus, Hesus, or Aisus was a Brittonic and Gaulish god known from two monumental statues and a line in Lucan's '' Bellum civile''.
Name
T. F. O'Rahilly derives the theonym ''Esus'', as well as ''Aoibheall'', ''Éibhleann'', ''Aoife'', and ...
.
It is the sole species in the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
''Xenospiza''; the genus is closely related to ''
Melospiza
''Melospiza'' is a genus of passerine birds formerly placed in the family Emberizidae, but it is now placed in Passerellidae. The genus, commonly referred to as "song sparrows," currently contains three species, all of which are native to North A ...
'' and is restriction to high altitude alpine grassland habitats.
Distribution and habitat
The species is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...
to some mountain ranges in and near the
Sierra Madre Occidental
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. It is restricted to bunchgrass and marshland habitat in volcanic mountain ranges, at altitudes of ; the lower part of the range is occupied by the northern, and the higher part by the southern population.
Habitat information for the northern population is scant, with
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
,
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
, and ''
Arbutus
''Arbutus'' is a genus of 12 accepted speciesAct. Bot. Mex no.99 Pátzcuaro abr. 2012.''Arbutus bicolor''/ref> of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islan ...
'' (probably Arizona Madrone, ''
A. arizonica'') trees being mentioned. Better details are available for the more extensively studied southern population. The dominant bunchgrass species are ''
Festuca amplissima'',
Peruvian feather grass
''Jarava ichu'', commonly known as Peruvian feathergrass, ''ichhu'', ''paja brava'', ''paja ichu'', or simply ''ichu'' (Quechua for straw), is a grass species in the family Poaceae native to the Americas. It is found growing in a vast area: Mex ...
(''
Stipa ichu
''Jarava ichu'', commonly known as Peruvian feathergrass, ''ichhu'', ''paja brava'', ''paja ichu'', or simply ''ichu'' (Quechua for straw), is a grass species in the family Poaceae native to the Americas. It is found growing in a vast area: Mexic ...
''), a
muhly
''Muhlenbergia'' is a genus of plants in the grass family.
The genus is named in honor of the German-American amateur botanist Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815). Many of the species are known by the common name muhly.
The greatest ...
grass (''
Muhlenbergia affinis''), and ''
Muhlenbergia macroura''. Small woods of
Montezuma Pine
''Pinus montezumae'', known as the Montezuma pine, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae.
It is native to Mexico and Central America, where it is known as ocote. The tree grows about 35 m high and 80 cm in diameter; occasional ...
(''
Pinus montezumae
''Pinus montezumae'', known as the Montezuma pine, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae.
It is native to Mexico and Central America, where it is known as ocote. The tree grows about 35 m high and 80 cm in diameter; occasion ...
'') and (probably)
Lumholtz' Pine (''
P. lumholtzii'') occur on elevated terrain.
Status and conservation
It is highly threatened due to clearance of its habitat for creating
pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...
s. Its conservation status on the
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
is
Endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
. This is because the species occurs in less than 5000 km², and its range, available habitat, and population size are shrinking (BirdLife International 2004). Despite the rediscovery of the northern population, no more than a handful of individuals are known to remain, and further research to locate additional
subpopulation
In statistics, a population is a set of similar items or events which is of interest for some question or experiment. A statistical population can be a group of existing objects (e.g. the set of all stars within the Milky Way galaxy) or a hypothe ...
s is urgently needed. In any case, the species will probably be uplisted to
Critically Endangered soon; of the 4 subpopulations known, only one (near
La Cima) seems reasonably numerous.
References
* Byers, Clive; Olsson, Urban & Curson, Jon (1995): ''Sparrows and Buntings: A Guide to the Sparrows and Buntings of North America and the World''. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
* Oliveras de Ita, Adán & Rojas-Soto, Octavio R. (2006): A survey for the Sierra Madre Sparrow (''Xenospiza baileyi''), with its rediscovery in the state of Durango, Mexico. ''Bird Conservation International'' 16(1): 25–32.
External links
The distinctive song of the Sierra Madre sparrow as an mp3 file Retrieved 2006-JUN-11.
Distribution of southern subpopulations Map with Spanish captions. Retrieved 2006-JUN-11.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1587775
Sierra Madre sparrow
American sparrows
Endemic birds of Western Mexico
Birds of the Sierra Madre Occidental
Sierra Madre sparrow
Birds of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt