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;[[:Category:Loxia|Loxia]] megaplaga | ;[[:Category:Loxia|Loxia]] megaplaga | ||
| − | [[Image:Hispaniolan_Crossbill.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by caribemotion<br>Location: Sierra de Bahoruco, [[Dominican Republic | + | [[Image:Hispaniolan_Crossbill.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Immature male moulting into adult plumage<br>Photo by caribemotion<br>Location: Sierra de Bahoruco, [[Dominican Republic]], December 2008.]] |
| − | ]]]] | ||
==Identification== | ==Identification== | ||
| + | Length 15-16 cm, weight 26-30 g<br> | ||
| + | Similar to [[White-winged Crossbill]], differing in minor details of plumage, with tertials less strongly white-tipped, and bill slightly stouter. | ||
==Distribution== | ==Distribution== | ||
| − | [[Hispaniola]] in the West Indies. | + | [[Hispaniola]] in the West Indies. Vagrant in [[Jamaica]]. |
==Taxonomy== | ==Taxonomy== | ||
It was formerly regarded as conspecific with the [[Two-barred Crossbill]] ''Loxia leucoptera'', from which it is now assumed it evolved. | It was formerly regarded as conspecific with the [[Two-barred Crossbill]] ''Loxia leucoptera'', from which it is now assumed it evolved. | ||
| − | + | It has been suggested that the origin of ''L. megaplaga'' can be traced to southern populations of ''L. leucoptera'' which got stranded on the highest pine-forested mountains of Hispaniola (the highest in all the Caribbean islands) when the glaciers and the cold started receding northward, as did the vast coniferous forests, after end of the last ice age, when the Holocene epoch began, some 10,000 years ago. The distance that now separates both species is of thousands of kilometers (from the Caribbean to the northern [[U.S.]] and [[Canada]]), making the story of the Hispaniola Crossbill an interesting one from an ecological and environmental point of view. | |
==Habitat== | ==Habitat== | ||
| + | Hispaniolan Pine ''Pinus occidentalis'' forests. | ||
==Behaviour== | ==Behaviour== | ||
| − | + | Feeds almost exclusively on the seeds of Hispaniolan Pine, extracted from the cones by twisting its bill between the cone scales. | |
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==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
Revision as of 23:45, 30 November 2014
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- Loxia megaplaga
Photo by caribemotion
Location: Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic, December 2008.
Identification
Length 15-16 cm, weight 26-30 g
Similar to White-winged Crossbill, differing in minor details of plumage, with tertials less strongly white-tipped, and bill slightly stouter.
Distribution
Hispaniola in the West Indies. Vagrant in Jamaica.
Taxonomy
It was formerly regarded as conspecific with the Two-barred Crossbill Loxia leucoptera, from which it is now assumed it evolved. It has been suggested that the origin of L. megaplaga can be traced to southern populations of L. leucoptera which got stranded on the highest pine-forested mountains of Hispaniola (the highest in all the Caribbean islands) when the glaciers and the cold started receding northward, as did the vast coniferous forests, after end of the last ice age, when the Holocene epoch began, some 10,000 years ago. The distance that now separates both species is of thousands of kilometers (from the Caribbean to the northern U.S. and Canada), making the story of the Hispaniola Crossbill an interesting one from an ecological and environmental point of view.
Habitat
Hispaniolan Pine Pinus occidentalis forests.
Behaviour
Feeds almost exclusively on the seeds of Hispaniolan Pine, extracted from the cones by twisting its bill between the cone scales.
