Elfin-Woods Warblers: Caribbean American, Puerto Rico Five-One Icons

Summary: American, Atlantic and Caribbean associations anchor elfin-woods warblers as Caribbean American heritage month June 2019 and Puerto Rico Five-One icons.

poster for reinita de bosque enano, elfin-woods warbler (Setophaga angelae), at 2012 Endangered Species Day in Puerto Rico, Maricao, western Cordillera Central, Puerto Rico; Thursday, May 17, 2012; photo of elfin-woods warbler by Mike Morel/USFWS; USFWS/Southeast (USFWS/Southeast), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Puerto Rico accommodations at altitudes always afflicted with Atlantic Ocean- and Caribbean Sea-affected weather and winds associate elfin-woods warblers with Caribbean American heritage month June 2019 and Puerto Rico Five-One statehood icons.

Elfin-woods warblers brave breezy dwarf forest stands of small-diameter, stunted, twisted woody plants with parrot, pewee, tanager, tody and warbler allies and predatory boas and hawks. Endangered Species Act status as threatened July 22, 2016, and the proposed Puerto Rico Admission Act March 28, 2019, communicate respective territorial benefits and statehood side-effects. Elfin-woods warblers historically dwell in 16.4-foot (5-meter) small trees in conifer-dominated Carite and Toro Negro Commonwealth and El Yunque National Forests and podocarp-dominated Maricao Commonwealth Forest.

Between Hurricanes Hugo (Sept. 10, 1989-Sept. 25, 1989), and Maria (Sept. 16, 2017-Oct. 2, 2017), elfin-woods warblers perhaps endure in one to two of four homelands.

Physically and sexually mature elfin-woods warblers annually fit breeding season months between March and June and parenting months between May and August into 3.6-year life cycles.

Physically and sexually mature elfin-woods warblers annually gestate one two- to three-egg seasonal brood for nests at 4.26- to 24.93-foot (1.3- to 7.6-meter) heights above ground-level. Branches and vines near leaf-littered trunks, cavities and stumps of leatherwood (Cyrilla racemiflora) trees and yellow rope orchids (Bulbophyllum wadsworthii) hold cuplike elfin-woods warbler seasonal nests. Nests woven with black rootlets, dried leaves and tree-fern stems involve climbing bamboo (Chusquea abietifolia), Guinea grass (Megathyrsus maximus), snakewood (Cecropia peltata) and yellow rope orchids.

The Parulidae (from Latin parus, "chickadee" and -ula, "little" and Greek -ειδής, "-like") family member juggles brown-red-spotted white eggs into nest-lining down feathers and dried leaves.

Caribbean American heritage month June 2019 and Puerto Rico Five-One statehood icons keep together as extended families of monogamous couples within a total 463.32-square-mile (1,200-square-kilometer) area.

Immature elfin-woods warblers look downy-backed, headed, thighed and winged as hatchlings; sighted as three- to five-day-olds; feathered as six- to eight-day-olds; and gray-green-yellow as 10-plus-day fledglings. Immature warblers maintain gray-green backs and green-yellow heads and underparts until physical and sexual maturity manifests black cheeks and crowns, black-streaked underparts and white-marked black upperparts. Elfin-woods warblers, named Setophaga angelae (from Greek σής, "moth" and φάγος, "glutton" and Latin angelæ, "of Angela [Kepler]"), net black-gray long bills and rounded, short wings.

Elfin-woods warblers, observed by Cameron and Angela Kepler in 1968 and scientifically by Cameron Kepler and Kenneth Parkes in 1972, offer blue-gray legs and gray-yellow footpads.

Physically and sexually mature elfin-woods warblers possess black-brown irises, incomplete white eyerings, white eyestripes, white-patched ears and necks and outer tail feathers with two white spots.

Mature 0.26- to 0.31-ounce (7.5- to 8.7-gram), 4.92- to 5.32-inch- (12.5- to 13.5-centimeter-) long elfin-woods warblers queue up between 557.74- and 3,379.26-foot (170- and 1,030-meter) altitudes. They realize high- to low-pitched songs and Peet! calls and glean, probe and sally-hover forages at 10- to 50-foot (3.05- to 15.24-meter) heights above tree bases. Introduced mongooses and rats and native boas, broad-winged and sharp-shinned hawks and pearly-eyed thrashers stress elfin-woods warblers and Puerto Rican parrots, pewees, tanagers, todies and warblers.

Fifteen- to 16-year-old counts tally elfin-woods warblers, Caribbean American and Puerto Rico Five-One icons and reinitas de bosque enano ("[the] dwarf forest's little queens"), at 1,830.

juvenile elfin-woods warbler (Setophaga angelae) at Maricao, western Cordillera Central, Puerto Rico; photo by Mike Morel/USFWS; June 7, 2009: USFWS/Southeast (USFWS/Southeast), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

poster for reinita de bosque enano, elfin-woods warbler (Setophaga angelae), at 2012 Endangered Species Day in Puerto Rico, Maricao, western Cordillera Central, Puerto Rico; Thursday, May 17, 2012; photo of elfin-woods warbler by Mike Morel/USFWS; USFWS/Southeast (USFWS/Southeast), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwssoutheast/7217755998/

juvenile elfin-woods warbler (Setophaga angelae) at Maricao, western Cordillera Central, Puerto Rico; photo by Mike Morel/USFWS; Sunday, June 7, 2009: USFWS/Southeast (USFWS/Southeast), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwssoutheast/5840441378/

For further information:

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