And yet, they are in our backyards! A new study analyzes the case of a brood parasitic bird, the Pin-tailed Whydah Vidua macroura , and its recent spread into the Americas. Biodiversity hotspots—or places with large numbers of species found nowhere else on earth—also tend to make suitable habitats for invasive species that can, in turn, destabilize ecosystems and supplant indigenous biota.
A new study in The Condor: Ornithological Applications predicts where the Pin-tailed Whydah, a songbird native to sub-Saharan Africa that has expanded its natural range thanks to the pet trade, may next spread in North America and Hawaii. The Pin-tailed Whydah is a brood parasitic bird that lays its eggs in other bird species , typically small African finches, and has been introduced from Africa to Puerto Rico and southern California. In this study, researchers used species distribution models to predict where the whydah may continue to spread in the continental U.
The investigators then identified suitable whydah habitat by finding correlations between locations where these finches have been seen and global climate data. As brood parasites, whydahs need hosts to complete their life cycle, so the researchers also used the presence of six known host species that have been co-introduced in the whydah's new range to predict suitable habitat.
Their species distribution model indicated high habitat suitability in areas of high biodiversity where whydahs do not currently live, including the West Coast of the U.
The Pin-tailed Whydah is a host generalist—it can parasitize novel species that share no co-evolutionary history with it and that, therefore, have developed no defenses to mitigate the reproductive costs of parasitism.
To create their model, the researchers took into consideration five known historical hosts and one known novel host—all exotic species to North America and Hawaii. The presence of these hosts in a suitable habitat could enable introduced whydahs to establish a bridgehead population, providing an opportunity for the birds to utilize indigenous hosts and to increase their population and range. James Russell, a conservation biologist at the University of Auckland, who was not affiliated with the study.
The map that Rob Crystal-Ornelas and his colleagues have created will help scientist to prioritize monitoring and research efforts, which will fully gauge the risk of additional whydah populations in North America.
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Red-breasted Goose. Red-tailed Hawk. Ring-necked Duck. Ringed teal. Roseate Spoonbill. Ross's Goose. Saker Falcon. Stanley Crane Blue Crane. Steller's Sea Eagle. Superb Starling. Taveta Golden Weaver. Turkey Vulture. Violet Turaco. Von der Decken's Hornbill. Waldrapp Ibis. Eyes are brown. Legs and feet are blackish-grey. Male in non-breeding plumage is similar to female with broader contrasted markings and slightly larger body. Female is very different.
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