Jamaican Spindalis

© Frank Mantlik

© Richard C. Hoyer

Birdfinding.info ⇒  Can usually be found at wooded sites such as Rocklands Bird Sanctuary, Stewart Town, Marshall’s Pen, Hardwar Gap, San San, Ecclesdown Road, and generally throughout the Blue Mountains and Cockpit Country.

Jamaican Spindalis

Spindalis nigricephala

Family: Spindalidae

Endemic to Jamaica, where it common in humid forests and open woodlands at all elevations.

Identification

Male is unmistakable: its striking black-and-white head pattern, orange nape, and orange breast are unique in its range.

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Barbecue Bottom Road, Jamaica; July 8, 2008.)  © Steve Metz

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; March 30, 2017.)  © Mark van Beirs

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; January 29, 2019.)  © Michael Woodruff

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; February 2014.)  © Tom Davis

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Silver Hill Gap, Jamaica; April 15, 2014.)  © Gil Ewing

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Blue Mountains, Jamaica; February 27, 2018.)  © Dubi Shapiro

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Greenwich, Jamaica; December 10, 2006.)  © Jan van den Broeck

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Blue Mountains, Jamaica; February 28, 2018.)  © Dubi Shapiro

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; January 29, 2019.)  © Matthew Grube

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; April 2, 2018.)  © Russell Fraker

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Jamaica; February 2, 2006.)  © Brennan Mulrooney

Jamaican Spindalis, male.  (Jamaica; June 24, 2015.)  © Sam Woods

The female is also distinctive, with yellow-orange underparts, a green back, and a gray head.

Jamaican Spindalis, female.  (Marshall’s Pen, Jamaica; March 11, 2016.)  © Ted Center

Jamaican Spindalis, female.  (Ecclesdown Road, Jamaica; February 7, 2010.)  © Mike Weedon

Voice.  Song is a series of high-pitched notes.  Calls are single high-pitched notes, some short and some drawn-out:

Notes

Monotypic species.  All spindalises were formerly considered to comprise a single species, the Stripe-headed Tanager, S. zena.

References

eBird. 2018. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed October 10, 2018.)

Haynes-Sutton, A., A. Downer, R. Sutton, and Y.-J. Rey-Millet. 2009. A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.