STUDIES IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO ORNITHOLOGY HONOURING RICHARD FFRENCH Edited by Floyd E. Hayes and Stanley A Temple Occasional Paper # 11 Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad STUDIES IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO ORNITHOLOGY HONOURING RICHARD FFRENCH Editors: FLOYD E. HAYES Department ofLife Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago STANLEY A. TEMPLE Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA Occasional Paper #11 Department of Life Sciences University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Trinidad 2002 OCCASIONAL PAPERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LIFE SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES, ST. AUGUSTINE, TRINIDAD This series has been established for the publication of major papers on the natural history of Trinidad and Tobago. Initiated in 1978 as 'Occasional Papers of the Department of Zoology, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad', the change in name reflects the merger of the Departments of Zoology, Plant Sciences and Biochemistry in 1996. Correspondence concerning manuscripts for publication in the series should be sent to the series editor, Mary Alkins-Koo, Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Inquiries regarding availability and purcl1ase of publications, listed below, should be addressed to the Secretary, Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. 1. BACON, P. R .. 1978. An annotated bibliography to the fauna (excluding insects) of Trinidad and Tobago 1817-1977.177 pp. 2. ALKlNS, M. E. 1979. The mammals of Trinidad. 75 pp. 3. MOOTOOSlNGH, S. N. 1979. The growth of conservation awareness in Trinidad and Tobago (1765-I 979). 106 pp. 4. BACON, P.R. I 979 (reprinted 1993). Studies on the biological resources ofNariva Swamp, Trinidad. 455 pp. 5. COCK, M . J. W. J 982. The skipper butterflies (Hesperiidae) of Trinidad. Part II. A systematic list of Trinidad & Tobago Hesperiidae. 47 pp. 6. M!CHALSKJ, J. 1988. A catalogue and guide to the dragonflies of Trinidad (order Odonata). 146 pp. 7. RAMNARINE, I. 1989. Cascadu farrning: a manual for the culture of Hoplosternum littorale. 43 pp. 8. SALISBURY, L., AN"D S. DYAL (WITH K. M. DALIP). 1990. A bibliography of zoological research: Department of Zoology 1963-1990. 183 pp. 9. NIESER, N., AND M. ALKINs-Koo. 1991. The water bugs of Trinidad & Tobago. 127 pp. 10. RAMJOHN, C. L., AND S. MAHARAJ (EDS) . 1999. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Meeting ofthe American Arachnological Society. 50 pp. 11. HAYES, F. E., AND S. A. TEMPLE (EDS). 2002. Studies in Trinidad and Tobago ornithology honouring Richard ffrench. iv + 209 pp. © Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, 2002 ISBN: 976-620-167-6 Typeset in Corel WordPerfect 8.0 by Floyd E. Hayes and Carol L. Ramjohn. Printed by Multimedia Production Centre, Faculty of Humanities and Education, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad. Cover illustration: Colour painting by Robin L. Restall of type specimen (left) and white-throated variant (right) of male Ring-necked Seedeater (Sporophila insularis), described in further detail in pp. 37-44. Financially sponsored by the Center for the Study ofTropica1 Birds, Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS . 11 PREFACE ....................................................................... 1v RICHARD FFRENCH BACON, PETER R. A biography of Richard ffrench ................................... HAYES, FLOYD E., CAROL L. RAMJOHN, Ai\fD NORA JONES. The ffrench connection: contributions of Richard ffrench to T1inidad and Tobago ornithology . 7 WORTH, C. BROOKE. Soldado Rock . 11 TAXONOMY AND MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION COLLINS, CHARlES T., AND TAMARA A. ARAYA. Natal pterylosis of two Trinidadian ovenbirds (Fumariidae) . 18 HAYES, FLOYD E. Sabre rattling at the lek: morphological variation and its significance in the White-tailed Sabrewing (Campylopterus ensipennis) . 23 RESTALL, ROBIN L.. Is the Ring-necked Seedeater (Sporophila insularis) from Trinidad extinct, or is it a cryptic species widespread in Venezuela? . 37 FAUNISTICS AND POPULATION ECOLOGY CUFFY, GAIL C. Ecological changes and their impact on avian use of marshes in Caroni Swamp, Trinidad . 45 GOCHFELD, MICHAEL Avifauna of a 'reclaimed' wetland: Trinidad's Laventille Marsh in the 1960s...... .... .......................................................... 54 HAYES, FLOYD E., AND lSHMAELANGELO SAMAD. Avifauna of the 'dragon's teeth': the Bocas Islands, northern Gulf ofParia, between Venezuela and Trinidad . 62 MCNAIR, DOUGLAS B., FRED SIBLEY, EDWARD B. MASSI.AH, AND MARTIN D. FROST. Ground-based Nearctic-Neotropic landbird migration during autumn in the eastem Caribbean . 86 MURPHY, WILLIAM L. Observations of pelagic seabirds wintering at sea in the southeastem Caribbean . 104 WHITE, STEWART A. A mist-netting sh1dy in Guayaguayare and the Victoria Mayaro Forest Reserve, Trinidad, West Indies . 111 ECOLOGY, BEHAVIOUR AND CONSERVATION ALEXANDER, GAVIN D. Observations of the Trinidad Piping-Guan, or Pawi (Pipile pipile), in northem Trinidad . 119 BERRES, MARK E. Long-term persistence of White-bearded Manakin (Manacus manacus) leks in the Arima Valley of Trinidad, West Indies . 131 COLLINS, CHARLES T. Notes on the biology of the Band-mmped Swift in Trinidad . 138 HEATH, MYKELA, AND MTKE HANSELL. Weaving techniques in two species of Icteridae, the Yellow Oriole (Icterus nigrogularis) and Crested Oropendola (Psarocolius decumanus) 144 MANOLJS, TIM, AND ALEXANDER CRUZ. Mating and nest-searching behaviour of Shiny Cowbirds associated with different host species in Trinidad and Tobago . 155 QUESNEL, VICTOR C. Breeding biology of the B1ack-throated Mango (Anthracothorax nigricollis) . 166 11 TEMPLE, STANLEY A. Extinction-prone birds of Trinidad and Tobago: making predictions from theory . 180 WHITE, GRAHAM L., AND STANLEY A. TEMPLE. Dickcissels in Trinidad: numbers and impacts on rice crops . 194 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS FINCH, DAVIS W. First sight record of Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) for Tobago, West Indies 199 GOMES, GEOFFREY. Kleptoparasitism of a Great Egret (Ardea alba) by a Common Black-Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) . 200 MCNAIR, DOUGLAS B., FLOYD E. HAYES, AND GRAHAM L. WHITE. First occurrences of Franklin' s Gull (Larus pipixcan) for Trinidad . 201 PETERSEN, WAYNE R., AND DouG McRAE. Noteworthy bird records for Trinidad and Tobago, including first reports of Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) and White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) . 204 ROOKS, COURTENAY, AND EDWARD ROOKS. First sight record of Slaty Elaenia (Elaenia strepera) for Trinidad . 206 WHITE, GRAHAM L. Mortality of birds due to entanglement in panicles of the grass, Pharus latifolius . 208 111 PREFACE In the polished halls of academia, degrees are their patience while waiting for the final product. everything; in the more practical real world, degrees To assure a high standard of quality, each pa­ are less important. In the school of hfe, it is what per was subjected to peer review from at least two one actually achieves-not what one is trained to researchers whose evaluations and constructive achieve-that matters most. And it is the achievers, criticisms significantly improved each manuscript. regardless of academic qualifications, who we hon­ We thank the following individuals for reviewing our the most for their contributions to humanity. manuscripts (an asterisk represents more than one In recognition of Richard ffrench 's outstand­ manuscript reviewed): John B. Agard, Wayne J. ing contributions to the arts and sciences of Trin­ Arendt*, Peter R. Bacon*, Yasmin Baksh- Comeau, idad and Tobago, both during his 27 years of res­ Gianfranco D. Basili, Alfredo J. Begazo, Keith L. idency (1958-1985) and afterward, we present him Bildstein, Stefan Bodnar, Daniel M. Brooks*, Paul with this collection of studies on the country's A. Buckley, R. Terry Chesser, Charles T. Collins*, ornithology. Gail C. Cuffy, Alfred M. Dufty, Jr. , Jack C. Eitniear*, Although most of the 26 papers in this mono­ Davis W. Finch*, Mercedes S. Foster, Martin D. graph report data obtained exclusively from Trin­ Frost, Kirnbal1 L. Garrett, Michael Gochfeld*, idad and Tobago, one article provides extensive Steven L. Hilty, Leo Joseph, Allan R. Keith*, James data from the British Virgin Islands and Barbados; A. Kushlan, Miguel Lentino, Timothy D. Manolis, the latter locality was home to Richard during 1955- Curtis A. Marantz, Edward B. Massiah, Douglas B. 1958, prior to moving to Trinidad. Two papers in­ McNair*, William L. Murphy*, Michael P. Oatham, corporate data from adjacent portions of Venezuela Robert B. Payne, Richard 0. Prum, Victor C. and one includes observations at sea between the Quesnel, James V. Remsen, Robin L. Restall, Dutch West Indies and Tobago. We hope that Thomas S. Schulenberg, Christopher J. Sharpe, Richard will be pleased with the diversity of sub­ David W. Snow*, Christopher K. Starr*, F. Gary jects, the range of contributing authors (32 includ­ Stiles, Stuart L. Warter, David C. Wege, Graham L. ing eight nationals from Trinidad and Tobago) and White, James W. Wiley, Kevin Winker*, John L. tl1e wealth of new knowledge on the bird life of the Zimmerman and Richard L. Zusi. Neotropics in general, and Trinidad and Tobago in For financially supporting the publication of particular. this monograph, we are grateful to the University of This monograph could not have been pro­ the West Indies at St. Augustine, the Asa Wright