Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Passeriformes > Polioptilidae > Polioptila > Polioptila californica

Polioptila californica (California Gnatcatcher)

Synonyms: Polioptila melanura californica
Language: Spanish

Wikipedia Abstract

The California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica) is a small 10.8 cm (4.3 in) long insectivorous bird which frequents dense coastal sage scrub growth. This species was recently split from the similar black-tailed gnatcatcher of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. This bird is often solitary, but joins with other birds in winter flocks.
View Wikipedia Record: Polioptila californica

Infraspecies

Polioptila californica atwoodi
Polioptila californica californica (coastal California gnatcatcher)
Polioptila californica margaritae
Polioptila californica pontilis

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
1
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
14
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 4.25919
EDGE Score: 1.65998
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  6 grams
Birth Weight [3]  1 grams
Breeding Habitat [2]  Chaparral
Wintering Geography [2]  Non-migrartory
Wintering Habitat [2]  Chaparral
Diet [4]  Carnivore (Invertebrates)
Diet - Invertibrates [4]  100 %
Forages - Mid-High [4]  50 %
Forages - Understory [4]  50 %
Clutch Size [6]  4
Clutches / Year [5]  2
Fledging [1]  10 days
Global Population (2017 est.) [2]  80,000
Incubation [5]  14 days
Maximum Longevity [5]  8 years
Female Maturity [5]  1 year
Male Maturity [5]  1 year

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Alto Golfo de California y Delta del Rio Colorado Biosphere Reserve VI 2320468 Sonora, Mexico  
Cabrillo National Monument V 149 California, United States
McGinty Mountain Preserve Nature Conservancy - Preserve Ia 753 California, United States  
Reserva de la Biosfera El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve VI 6176727 Mexico  
Valle de los Cirios Flora and Fauna Protection Area   Mexico      

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
California Floristic Province Mexico, United States No
Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands Mexico, United States No

Prey / Diet

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2017. Accessed on January 2018.
♦ 3Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 4Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 5de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 6Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 7Foraging ecology of the California gnatcatcher deduced from fecal samples, Jutta C. Burger, Michael A. Patten, John T. Rotenberry, Richard A. Redak, Oecologia (1999) 120:304-310
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0