Birdfinding.info ⇒ Easy to find, but not always easy to see, at the main forest sites in Puerto Rico, including El Yunque National Forest and Cambalache, Guánica, Maricao, and Río Abajo State Forests. Usually detected by its loud, cardinal-like song, which it often belts out from an inconspicuous perch. Within San Juan, Julio Enrique Monaga National Park is a likely place to search for it.
Puerto Rican Bullfinch
Melopyrrha portoricensis
Endemic to Puerto Rico, where it occurs throughout the island in wet and dry woodlands at all elevations.
Identification
Distinctive and unique in its range: a jet-black bullfinch with extensive patches of vivid orange-chestnut on its crown, throat, and undertail coverts.
Compared to the more widespread Greater Antillean and Lesser Antillean Bullfinches elsewhere in the West Indies, Puerto Rican has far more extensive chestnut on the head.
Puerto Rican Bullfinch. (El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico; November 15, 2013.) © Hemant Kishan
Puerto Rican Bullfinch. (La Parguera, Puerto Rico; May 4, 2017.) © Benny Diaz
Immatures are brownish or olive overall with rusty undertail coverts, and eventually also rusty facial markings.
Puerto Rican Bullfinch, immature. (Vega Alta, Puerto Rico; May 14, 2020.) © Ricardo Sanchez
Puerto Rican Bullfinch, immature. (Barrio Naranjo Comerío, Puerto Rico; April 3, 2009.) © Ernesto Burgos
Notes
Monotypic species. Formerly considered conspecific with the St. Kitts Bullfinch (grandis), which is believed to be extinct.
Additional Photos of Puerto Rican Bullfinch
Puerto Rican Bullfinch. (El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico; November 15, 2013.) © Hemant Kishan
Puerto Rican Bullfinch. (El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico; March 19, 2009.) © Ernesto Burgos
Puerto Rican Bullfinch. (Guánica State Forest, Puerto Rico; January 5, 2016.) © Andrew Kinslow
Puerto Rican Bullfinch. (Cambalache State Forest, Puerto Rico; May 16, 2018.) © Felipe Pimentel
Puerto Rican Bullfinch. (March 10, 2013.) © Marisidra
Puerto Rican Bullfinch. (Guánica, Puerto Rico; January 29, 2019.) © Benny Diaz
Puerto Rican Bullfinch. (Guánica State Forest, Puerto Rico; December 27, 2012.) © graichen and recer
Puerto Rican Bullfinch, immature. (Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, Puerto Rico; June 26, 2017.) © Sadhu Govardhan
Puerto Rican Bullfinch, immature molting into adult plumage. (Vega Alta, Puerto Rico; March 30, 2019.) © Ricardo Sanchez
Puerto Rican Bullfinch, immature molting into adult plumage. (Maricao State Forest, Puerto Rico; March 3, 2019.) © Jordan Broadhead
Puerto Rican Bullfinch, immature. (Guánica State Forest, Puerto Rico; March 3, 2017.) © Gil Ewing
References
BirdLife International. 2016. Pyrrhulagra portoricensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22723625A94826372. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22723625A94826372.en. (Accessed March 30, 2021.)
Birds of St. Kitts & Nevis. 2021. St. Kitts Bullfinch. https://www.birdsofstkittsnevis.com/st-kitts-bullfinch/. (Accessed March 30, 2021.)
BirdsCaribbean. 2021. The Caribbean has Two New Bird Species . . . Sadly, They May Both be Extinct. https://www.birdscaribbean.org/2021/07/the-caribbean-has-two-new-bird-species-sadly-they-may-both-be-extinct/. (Posted July 8, 2021; Accessed January 14, 2022.)
Bond, J. 1979. Birds of the West Indies (Fourth Edition). Collins, London.
eBird. 2021. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed March 30, 2021.)
Faaborg, J., and A. Wiewel. 2011. Puerto Rican Bullfinch (Loxigilla portoricensis), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T.S. Schulenberg, ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.purbul1.01.
Garrido, O.H., and J.W. Wiley. 2003. The taxonomic status of the Puerto Rican bullfinch (Loxogilla portoricensis) (Emberizidae) in Puerto Rico and St. Kitts. Ornitologia Neotropical 14:91-98.
Hume, J.P. 2017. Extinct Birds (Second Edition). Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London.
Kirwan, G.M., A. Levesque, M. Oberle, and C.J. Sharpe. 2019. Birds of the West Indies. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Olson, S.L. 1984. The last St. Kitts Bullfinch Loxigilla portoricensis grandis (Emberizinae) and the extinction of its race. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 104:121-123.
Raffaele, H. 1989. A Guide to the Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton University Press.
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.
Ryan, M. 2021. St. Kitts Bullfinch granted Full specie status—Although extinct for almost 100 years!!! (June 26, 2021). Birders of St. Kitts & Nevis, https://birdsofstkittsnevis.com/st-kitts-bullfinch-granted-full-specie-status-although-extinct-for-almost-100-years/. (Posted July 8, 2021. Accessed January 14, 2022.)
Xeno-Canto. 2021. Puerto Rican Bullfinch – Loxigilla portoricensis. https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Loxigilla-portoricensis. (Accessed March 30, 2021.)