Northern schiffornis

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Northern schiffornis
Schiffornis veraepacis (15150857585).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Tityridae
Genus: Schiffornis
Species:
S. veraepacis
Binomial name
Schiffornis veraepacis
Schiffornis veraepacis map.svg

The northern schiffornis, or northern mourner, (Schiffornis veraepacis), is a species of Neotropical bird in the family Tityridae, the tityras, becards, and allies. [2] It is found in Mexico, every Central American country except El Salvador, and in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. [3]

Contents

Taxonomy and systematics

The northern schiffornis was originally described in 1860 as Heteropelma verae-pacis. [4] However, genus Heteropelma had earlier been established for a wasp and so by the principle of priority the species had to be reassigned. For much of the twentieth century Schiffornis was placed in the manakin family Pipridae and its species were called manakins. Several early twenty-first century studies confirmed the placement of Schiffornis in Tityridae and taxonomic systems made the reassignment. [5] In 1998 the American Ornithological Society was unsure where to place the genus and listed its members as incertae sedis but in 2011 moved them to Tityridae. [6]

What is now the northern schiffornis was eventually treated as a subspecies of what was then called the thrush-like manakin and later called the thrush-like schiffornis, Schiffornis turdina. Since at least the late twentieth century taxonomists had suspected that several species were embedded within Schiffornis turdina. [5] Studies published in 2007 and 2011 confirmed that S. turdina was polyphyletic. [7] [8] Following these studies taxonomists separated the northern schiffornis and three other species from S. turdina, and gave the reduced species its current English name of brown-winged schiffornis. The process began in 2012 and took at least until 2016 for the major taxonomic systems to implement. [9] [10] (BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World calls all of the five species "mourner" rather than "schiffornis". [11] )

The northern schiffornis has these four subspecies: [2]

Description

The northern schiffornis is 15.5 to 16.5 cm (6.1 to 6.5 in) long and weighs about 20 to 40 g (0.71 to 1.4 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies S. v. veraepacis have an indistinct pale ring around the eye on an otherwise dark brownish olive face. Their upperparts and tail are dark brownish olive. Their wings are a warmer brown. Their throat and breast are brownish olive and their belly and vent grayish olive. Subspecies S. v. dumicola is darker and more olive than the nominate, with little difference between their back and breast. S. v. acrolophites is even darker and more olive than dumicola but with a chestnut-brown chin and throat. S. v. rosenbergi has entirely dark brownish olive underparts with no gray. All subspecies have a dark iris. [12]

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of the northern schiffornis are found thus: [3] [12]

The northern schiffornis primarily inhabits the interior of humid to wet evergreen forest; it only rarely occurs at the forest edge and nearby mature secondary forest. [3] [12] In elevation it ranges from sea level to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in northern Central America, to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) on the Caribbean slope and to 1,700 m (5,600 ft) on the Pacific slope of Costa Rica, to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Colombia, and to 1,300 m (4,300 ft) in Ecuador. [13] [14] [15] [16]

Behavior

Movement

The northern schiffornis is believed to be a year-round resident. [12]

Feeding

The northern schiffornis feeds on fruits and insects, though details are lacking. It usually forages singly and only rarely joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It forages mostly in the forests's understory, often clinging to a low-level vertical stem, and takes food from vegetation with short sallies from a perch. [12]

Breeding

The northern schiffornis' breeding season varies geographically. It includes May in Mexico, at least March to July in Belize, at least January to March in Guatemala, February to August in Costa Rica, and July in Ecuador. Its nest is a large cup made from dead leaves and their skeletons and lined with rootlets and fungal rhizomorphs; the female builds it. It typically is only about 0.5 to 1.8 m (2 to 6 ft) above the ground in a palm, on a stump, or in a vine tangle or epiphyte. The clutch is two eggs that are pale buff with black, brown, and lilac-gray markings. The female alone incubates, for about 20 to 21 days, and alone provisions nestlings. The time to fledging is not known. [12]

Vocalization

The northern schiffornis sings mostly in the early morning. Its song is a variable "sequence of normally 2–4 clear, rich musical whistles, last one sharply upslurred". It is written as "deeeeeu whee-chee or sometimes two-note dweeeer weet" in Mexico, "twick-sweet-twee" on the Panama/Colombia border, and "a very slow teeeeu, weee-tí or teeeeeew tui-chuEEE?" in Ecuador. [12]

Status

The IUCN has assessed the northern schiffornis as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range; its estimated population of at least 50,000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. [1] In Costa Rica it is considered "fairly common" on the Pacific slope, "fairly uncommon" in the Caribbean-slope foothills, and "very uncommon" in the Caribbean lowlands. [14] It is "uncommon to fairly common" in northern Central America, "locally fairly common" in Colombia, and fairly common in Ecuador. [13] [15] [16] It occurs in many protected areas across its range. [12]

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International. (2022). "Northern Mourner Schiffornis veraepacis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2022 e.T103677449A137910479. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-2.RLTS.T103677449A137910479.en . Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  2. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (March 2025). "Cotingas, manakins, tityras, becards". IOC World Bird List. v 15.1. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 R. Terry Chesser, Richard C. Banks, F. Keith Barker, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Andrew W. Kratter, Irby J. Lovette, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., James D. Rising, Douglas F. Stotz, and Kevin Winker. "Fifty-fourth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds". The Auk 2013, vol. 130(3):7–8 retrieved March 25, 2024
  4. ↑ Sclater, Philip Lutley; Salvin, Osbert (1860). "Characters of Eleven New Species of Birds discovered by Osbert Salvin in Guatemala". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (in Latin). XXVIII: 300. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  5. 1 2 Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, D. F. Lane, L, N. Naka, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 29 September 2025. A classification of the bird species of South America. South American Classification Committee associated with the International Ornithological Union. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved September 29, 2025
  6. ↑ R. Terry Chesser, Richard C. Banks, F. Keith Barker, Carla Cicero, Jon L. Dunn, Andrew W. Kratter, Irby J. Lovette, Pamela C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., James D. Rising, Douglas F. Stotz, and Kevin Winker. "Fifty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds". The Auk 2011, vol. 128:600–613 retrieved October 22, 2025
  7. ↑ Nyári, Á.S. (2007). "Phylogeographic patterns, molecular and vocal differentiation, and species limits in Schiffornis turdina (Aves)". Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 44(1): 154–164.
  8. ↑ Donegan, T., Quevedo, A., McMullan, M. and Salaman, P. (2011). "Revision of the status of bird species occurring or reported in Colombia 27811". Conserv. Colombiana 15: 4–21.
  9. ↑ "Split Thrush-like Manakin Schiffornis turdina into five species (Proposal 505)". South American Classification Committee. 2012. Retrieved October 23, 2025. The proposal was accepted in April 2012.
  10. ↑ BirdLife International (2016) "Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world". [Old] Version 9. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/BirdLife_Checklist_Version_90.zip
  11. ↑ HBW and BirdLife International (2025). Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 10. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/about-our-science/taxonomy#birdlife-s-taxonomic-checklist retrieved October 12, 2025
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 del Hoyo, J., N. Collar, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Northern Schiffornis (Schiffornis veraepacis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.thlsch2.01 retrieved October 24, 2025
  13. 1 2 Fagan, Jesse; Komar, Oliver (2016). Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America. Peterson Field Guides. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 280–281. ISBN   978-0-544-37326-6.
  14. 1 2 Garrigues, Richard; Dean, Robert (2007). The Birds of Costa Rica. Ithaca: Zona Tropical/Comstock/Cornell University Press. pp. 214–215. ISBN   978-0-8014-7373-9.
  15. 1 2 McMullan, Miles; Donegan, Thomas M.; Quevedo, Alonso (2010). Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Bogotá: Fundación ProAves. p. 175. ISBN   978-0-9827615-0-2.
  16. 1 2 Ridgely, Robert S.; Greenfield, Paul J. (2001). The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. pp. 562–563. ISBN   978-0-8014-8721-7.
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