Bird Board

Bananaquit Subspecies

Has anyone confirmed the subspecies of the bananaquit at Richardson Park? It looks like there are three main clads for bananaquits that appear to line up with the subspecies listed in e-bird. To my understanding, there is a movement to split these subspecies into three different species. So, would it make sense for us to identify the bird down to this subspecies in e-bird? In addition, I see there are 41 identified subspecies that I don’t know how they tie into the three clads/subspecies above. Here is a fun read with some info: http://www.hbw.com/species/bananaquit-coereba-flaveola All that being stated, is it safe to declare the bird a member of the subspecies (clad) bahamanensis based on the geographic location and the white throat? Two key identifiers?

Comments

Larry Manfredi
almost 8 years ago

This subspecies is found throughout most of the Bahamas and is the lightest colored of the Bananaquits. There is an all black Bananaquit found on Grenada which is pretty cool. There are many, many subspecies of them.

Toe
almost 8 years ago

Yes, I checked and I think there are about 1,400 subspecies, or whereabouts.

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