Abstract
BackgroundThe Shiny Cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis Gmelin, 1789, is a brood parasite of hundreds of small-bodied birds that is native to South American lowlands. Within the last 100 years this species has been expanding its range throughout the Caribbean, towards North America, but has rarely been seen above 2,000 m asl.New informationHere, we present records of Shiny Cowbirds in Quito, a city located 2,800 m above sea level that harbors a bird community typical of the Andean valleys. We found two juvenile individuals parasitizing two different pairs of Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis Müller, 1776). This report constitutes an altitudinal range expansion of reproductive populations of ca. 500m, which may have beenprompted by anthropogenic disturbance.
Highlights
The Shiny Cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis Gmelin, 1789, is a brood parasite of hundreds of small-bodied birds, and the Rufous-collared Sparrow, Zonotrichia capensis Muller, 1776 is one of its main hosts (Mason 1986, Lowther 2013)
It is native to South American lowlands (Bird Life International and NatureServe 2012), but within the last 100 years has been expanding its distribution throughout the Caribbean, towards North America (Post et al 1993) with some isolated records from Costa Rica and Mexico (Kluza 1998, Sandoval et al 2010) (Fig. 1)
Areas in blue represent areas below 2000 m asl where the shiny cowbird has been previously reported (Ridgely and Greenfield 2006), black dots represent isolated, higher altitude records (Ridgely and Greenfield 2006, Xeno-canto Foundation 2012), and the red dot marks the city of Quito, where we report the presence of the Shiny Cowbird
Summary
The Shiny Cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis Gmelin, 1789, is a brood parasite of hundreds of small-bodied birds that is native to South American lowlands. Within the last 100 years this species has been expanding its range throughout the Caribbean, towards North America, but has rarely been seen above 2,000 m asl. We present records of Shiny Cowbirds in Quito, a city located 2,800 m above sea level that harbors a bird community typical of the Andean valleys. We found two juvenile individuals parasitizing two different pairs of Rufous-collared Sparrow This report constitutes an altitudinal range expansion of reproductive populations of ca. 500m, which may have beenprompted by anthropogenic disturbance. Climate change, Habitat fragmentation, Molothrus bonariensis, Rufouscollared Sparrow, Shiny Cowbird, university campus, Zonotrichia capensis
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