Puerto Rican Lizard-cuckoo (Coccyzus vieilloti)

Puerto Rican Lizard-cuckoo Coccyzus vieilloti

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	82 g

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	9,900 km²	medium
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	9,950 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	2200-3000 mature individuals	medium	inferred	2021
Population trend	stable	-	inferred	-
Generation length	3.15 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification: The species is described as 'rare' (Stotz et al. 1996). Surveys in mangrove forests found the species at a density of 0.1 individuals/ha (Kendrick 2020). Assuming that the species occurs at this density across forested habitat within the entire range (330,000-460,000 ha; Global Forest Watch 2021, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein), the population may number 3,300-4,600 individuals. This roughly equates to 2,200-3,000 mature individuals.

Trend justification: Despite hurricanes Irma and Maria causing major damage to forested habitat in Puerto Rico in 2017, the species does not appear to be negatively affected by the impacts: Surveys after the hurricanes found an increase in the rate of occupancy and the number of sites occupied (Lloyd et al. 2019). Precautionarily, the population is assessed as stable.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native	yes
Virgin Islands (to USA)	extant	vagrant

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Acantilados del Noroeste
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Caño Tiburones
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Carite
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Ceiba and Naguabo
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Cordillera Central
Puerto Rico (to USA)	El Yunque
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Este Central
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Humacao
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Karso del Norte
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Karso del Sur
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Maricao and Susúa
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Sierra Bermeja and Laguna Cartagena
Puerto Rico (to USA)	Suroeste

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 1040 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Puerto Rican Lizard-cuckoo Coccyzus vieilloti. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/puerto-rican-lizard-cuckoo-coccyzus-vieilloti on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.