Birdfinding.info ⇒ Locally common in the highlands of Hispaniola. It can usually be found on visits to Zapotén, Los Arroyos, and Ébano Verde. Also present at Alcoa Road and Cachote.
Hispaniolan Euphonia
Euphonia musica
Endemic to Hispaniola, where it occurs principally in mountain forests, mainly in the Sierra de Bahoruco, Sierra de Neiba, and Cordillera Central. Uncommon in mountain forests of the Haitian Peninsula. Historically resident on Gonâve Island, but current status there is unknown.
Identification
Unique on Hispaniola, where it the only euphonia. Blue crown and nape and orange forehead patch are distinctive in both sexes.
Male’s coloration is intense: bright blue crown, black face and throat, purplish-black back and wings, and orange underparts and forehead.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (Mencía, Dominican Republic; September 2, 2018.) © Francisco Alba S.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (Ébano Verde Scientific Reserve, Dominican Republic; February 22, 2014.) © Hemant Kishan
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (November 23, 2006.) © Miguel A. Landestoy T.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic; November 3, 2013.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic; November 3, 2013.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic; November 3, 2013.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Euphonia. (Ébano Verde Scientific Reserve, Dominican Republic; January 19, 2016.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (November 23, 2006.) © Miguel A. Landestoy T.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (Mencía, Dominican Republic; September 2, 2018.) © Francisco Alba S.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (Puerto Escondido, Dominican Republic; November 8, 2008.) © José M. Pantaleón I.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic; February 18, 2012) © Rafael V. Arvelo
Hispaniolan Euphonia, male. (Mencía, Dominican Republic; September 2, 2018.) © Francisco Alba S.
Female shares the male’s overall pattern and bright blue crown and nape, but with olive upperparts, dusky mask, chestnut forehead patch, and greenish-yellow underparts, including the throat.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, female. (Alcoa Road, Dominican Republic; November 25, 2017.) © Francisco Alba S.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, female. (Alcoa Road, Dominican Republic; November 25, 2017.) © Francisco Alba S.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, female. (Dominican Republic; January 19, 2016.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, female. (November 23, 2006.) © Miguel A. Landestoy T.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, female. (Zapotén, Dominican Republic; December 1, 2013.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, female. (Alcoa Road, Dominican Republic; November 25, 2017.) © Francisco Alba S.
Hispaniolan Euphonia, female. (Ébano Verde Scientific Reserve, Dominican Republic; February 22, 2014.) © Hemant Kishan
Hispaniolan Euphonia, female. (Ébano Verde Scientific Reserve, Dominican Republic; January 15, 2018.) © Simon Best
Notes
Monotypic species. Traditionally considered conspecific with Puerto Rican and Lesser Antillean Euphonias, collectively the Antillean Euphonia, E. musica.
Frontiers of Taxonomy: Three Species of Antillean Euphonias. Hispaniolan, Puerto Rican, and Lesser Antillean Euphonias (E. musica, sclateri, and flavifrons) have long been classified as a single species, the Antillean Euphonia (E. musica) but the three forms differ significantly in plumage, morphology (e.g., tail length), and vocalizations. The differences are so conspicuous that it seems inexplicable that they were ever considered conspecific. The failure to designate these forms as separate species appears to be a long-standing oversight of Caribbean ornithology that is certain to be corrected.
References
eBird. 2018. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed November 21, 2018.)
Hilty, S., and G.M. Kirwan. 2018. Hispaniolan Euphonia (Euphonia musica). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie, and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/61781. (Accessed November 22, 2018.)
Isler, M.L., and P.R. Isler. 1987. The Tanagers: Natural History, Distribution, and Identification. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Latta, S., C. Rimmer, A. Keith, J. Wiley, H. Raffaele, K. McFarland, and E. Fernandez. 2006. Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. 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.