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Home/Species/ Black-capped Gnatcatcher

Polioptila nigriceps

Baird, 1864

Black-capped Gnatcatcher

G5Secure Found in 2 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101513
Element CodeABPBJ08040
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderPasseriformes
FamilyPolioptilidae
GenusPolioptila
Other Common Names
Gobemoucheron à coiffe noire (FR) Perlita Sinaloense (ES)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Taxonomic Comments
Although considered conspecific with P. albiloris by some authors, P. nigriceps differs in plumage sequence as well as morphology, and shows no approach to albiloris in the region of geographic proximity in western Mexico (AOU 1983).
Conservation Status
Review Date1996-12-03
Change Date1996-12-03
Range Extent Comments
RESIDENT: extreme southern Arizona (beginning in the 1970s nesting or probable nesting has been recorded at Sonoita Creek near Patagonia and below Lake Patagonia, Chino Canyon and Florida Wash in the Sanata Rita Mountains area, Sycamore Canyon, and Kino Springs; status as year-round resident has not been established; see Groschupf 1992), southern Sonora and southwestern Chihuahua south through Sinaloa, western Durango, Nayarit, and Jalisco to Colima, Mexico (AOU 1983).
Ecology & Habitat

Diagnostic Characteristics

See Dunn and Garrett (1987) for detailed treatment of field identification of this and other North American gnatcatchers.

Habitat

Riparian woodland and associated brushy areas, especially mesquite (Tropical and lower Subtropical areas) (AOU 1983). Riparian thickets, thorn forest, wooded washes; mesquite/hackberry thickets especially favored in Arizona (Dunn and Garrett 1987). In Arizona, nests have been found in the upper branches of mesquite, Arizona sycamore, and hackberry trees (Groschupf 1992).

Reproduction

In Arizona, earliest observed nest building was in late March; latest fledging date was early August (Groschupf 1992). Clutch size typically is 4 (sometimes only 3 hatch); both sexes incubate and tend young (Groschupf 1992).
Terrestrial Habitats
Forest - HardwoodWoodland - HardwoodShrubland/chaparral
Palustrine Habitats
Riparian
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN1
ProvinceRankNative
ArizonaS1Yes
Roadless Areas (2)
Arizona (1)
AreaForestAcres
TumacacoriCoronado National Forest44,594
New Mexico (1)
AreaForestAcres
Peloncillo (NM)Coronado National Forest43,339
References (19)
  1. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  3. Balda, R. P., and G. C. Bateman. 1971. Flocking and annual cycle of the piñon jay, <i>Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus</i>. Condor 73:287-302.
  4. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  5. Dunn, J. L., and K. L. Garrett. 1987. The identification of North American gnatcatchers. Birding 19(1):17-29.
  6. Groschupf, K. 1992. A closer look: black-capped chickadee. Birding, June 1992, pp. 161-164.
  7. Horn, H. S. 1968. The adaptive significance of colonial nesting in the Brewer's Blackbird. Ecology 49:682-694.
  8. Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  9. Laudenslayer, W. F., Jr. 1981. Habitat utilization by birds of three desert riparian communities. Ph.D. Thesis, Arizona State University, Tempe. 148pp.
  10. Ligon, J. D. 1971. Late summer-autumnal breeding of the piñon jay in New Mexico. Condor 73:147-153.
  11. Moore, W. S., and R. A. Dolbeer. 1989. The use of banding recovery data to estimate dispersal rates and gene flow in avian species: case studies in the Red-winged Blackbird and Common Grackle. Condor 91:242-253.
  12. National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC.
  13. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  14. Sibley, D. A. 2000a. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  15. Tarvin, K. A., and G. E. Woolfenden. 1999. Blue Jay (<i>Cyanocitta cristata</i>). No. 469 IN A. Poole and F. Gill, editors. The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 32pp.
  16. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  17. Thompson, F. R., III. 1994. Temporal and spatial patterns of breeding brown-headed cowbirds in the midwestern United States. Auk 111:979-990.
  18. Williams, L. 1952b. Breeding behavior of the Brewer blackbird. Condor 54:3-47.
  19. Willson, M. F. 1966. Breeding ecology of the Yellow-headed Blackbird. Ecological Monographs 36:51-77.