Justification This species has a very small and fragmented occupied breeding range, which is declining significantly. Although conservation action may have ameliorated some of this decline, the species still qualifies as Endangered.

Family/Sub-family Parulidae

Species name author Sclater & Salvin, 1861

Taxonomic source(s) AOU checklist (1998 + supplements), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), Stotz et al. (1996)

Identification 12.5 cm. Smart black, yellow and white warbler. Adult male black above with yellow supercilium and cheek-patch split by black eye-stripe extending from bill through eye to rear auricular region where it joins with black nape^{2, 16}. Wings black with two white wing-bars and fringing to the flight feathers, black chin, throat and streaks down flanks on white underparts. Female similar but olive to gray streaked black on crown and mantle, chin and centre of throat yellow or white surrounded by variable amounts of black mottling along the sides. Immature drab with indistinct streaking and black eye-stripe. Similar spp. Black-throated Green Warbler D. virens, but first-winter female D. chrysoparia has more distinct, dark eye-stripe, no auricular patch, darker, less olive and usually faintly streaked blackish upperparts and no yellow in vent. Voice Song a variable and buzzy zee zee zeedee-zee. Hints Best located by voice in canopy. Forages in mixed flocks in winter.

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

21,000

decreasing

19,700 km²

No

Range & population Dendroica chrysoparia is a local breeder in Edwards Plateau, Lampasas Cut Plain and Central Mineral Region, Texas, USA². It occurs at an average density of 15 males/km² in c.350 km² of occupied habitat, and the population was estimated to number 21,000 individuals in 2004¹⁵. There was a 25% loss in available territories between 1962 and 1981², and the population has clearly declined. It winters in southern Mexico (Chiapas), Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras, where it is uncommon to fairly common^2,19. There are recent reports/records from Costa Rica¹¹ and Panama¹⁴.

Important Bird Areas Click here to view map showing IBAs where species is recorded and triggers any of the IBA criteria.

Ecology: It breeds in juniper-oak woodlands, where it depends on Juniperus ashei bark for nesting material³. Eggs are laid around in late March-mid May². In winter, it occurs in mixed-species flocks, foraging at sites with a high density of "encino" oaks (in comparison to pines and other oak species) at 1,500-3,000 m ^2,9,10. It was thought to have a wider winter habitat tolerance (and may be tolerant of moderate levels of logging and grazing¹⁰), but this requires substantiation⁸.

Threats Breeding habitat is under clearance for land development and agriculture². Fragmentation impairs gene flow¹³ and nest survival decreases with increasing forest edge density¹⁸. However, the main cause of decline may be logging and firewood-extraction, and agricultural conversion for cattle reducing pine-oak habitats in southern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras^2,6,12,17.

Conservation measures underway In the USA, it is listed as Endangered and has a recovery plan². It occurs in Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge, Texas, where there is a cowbird trapping programme^2,7 and regional habitat conservation plans have been approved or are under development in Travis, Hays, Comal, and Williamson counties, Texas^2,6. Various small reserves are managed for the species in Texas⁶. Surveys in 1993-1995 improved knowledge of its wintering distribution². It is known or suspected from Rancho Nuevo and Lagunas de Montebello National Parks, Mexico, Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala, and Celaque, Cusuco and Santa Bárbara National Parks, Honduras^2,9. Currently there is an ongoing effort involving Pronatura Sur, Defensores de la Naturaleza, and Salva Natura to gather information on the warbler south of the US, including details on its wintering habitat, and a community education initiative is underway. Surveys to monitor breeding populations are ongoing. The Leon River Restoration Project in central Texas is working on a habitat restoration project with Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo as the primary focus.

Conservation measures proposed Monitor winter distribution and habitat quality. Monitor breeding populations. Better define ecology and habitat availability². Control cowbird populations where appropriate. Protect a highland pine-oak corridor in Mexico and north Central America⁵. Implement community education schemes in the breeding range². Restore connectivity between northern and southern breeding populations to promote gene flow¹³.

References Collar et al. (1992). 1. Curson et al. (1994). 2. Ladd and Gass (1999). 3. Lockwood (1996). 4. M. Lockwood in litt. (1999). 5. Lyons (1990). 6. J. Lyons in litt. (1999). 7. Sexton (1997). 8. J. Sterling in litt. (1999). 9. Thompson (1995). 10. Rappole et al. (1999). 11. Garigues (2002). 12. Rappole et al. (2003). 13. Lindsay et al. (2006). 14. Jones and Komar (2006). 15. Rich et al. (2004). 16. Pyle et al. (1987). 17. Ecoregional Plan for conservation of Central American pine-oak forest and its birds (2007). 18. Peak (2006). 19. Jones and Komar (2007).

Further web sources of information

Audubon WatchList

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Recovery Plan

Text account compilers Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Matt Harding (BirdLife International), Isabel Isherwood (BirdLife International), Rob Pople (BirdLife International), David Wege (BirdLife International)

Contributors Oliver Komar, Clif Ladd, M. Lockwood, J. Lyons, Rebecca Peak, J Sterling

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Greg Butcher (National Audubon Society)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Dendroica chrysoparia. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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