New findings of birds in paleontological and archaeological contexts of Cuba

With great excitement here I announce the publication of another contribution to the archaeology and paleontology of the island of Cuba. On this occasion as a collaborator to Osvaldo Jimenez, zooarchaeologist, a specialist from the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, Cuba. Our paper came out today on the scientific journal Novitates Caribaea, available here:

https://novitatescaribaea.do/index.php/novitates/article/view/251

https://doi.org/10.33800/nc.vi17.251 

We take this opportunity to extend our thanks to Roger Arrazcaeta Delgado, Raúl Mesa Morales, Marcos A. Acosta Mauri, Gabinete de Arqueología, Oficina del Historiador de La Habana (OHH), Jorge A. Garcell Domínguez, Consejo Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural (CNPC); William Suárez Duque, P.O. Box 16477, West Palm Beach, Florida 33165, USA.; S. L. Olson, Megan Spitzer y Christina A. Gebhard, Division of Birds, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA; Peter Capainolo, Division of Birds, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA.

Arredondo´s owl (Pulsatrix arredondoi). 

Bilingual abstract: 

 This paper provides new records on Cuban birds such as the endemic Cuban macaw (Ara tricolor), found in two archaeological sites in Old Havana dated in the 17th and 18th centuries. We provide details on Arredondo´s owl (Pulsatrix arredondoi), extinct since prehistory, but whose remains have been collected in two caves near Las Charcas, a community in San José de las Lajas municipality, Mayabeque province. The report also includes the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), from a specimen collected in Cueva del Aguacate in the above-cited location. The bone remains found in Cueva de Las Charcas match a paleontological context, but the other was found in la Cueva de los Muertos, an archaic culture archaeological site (i.e., hunter-fisher-gatherers). The possibility that P. arredondoi formed part of this pre-Columbian aboriginal’s diet is considered. The record of C. principalis represents the first finding of this species in paleontological contexts in Cuba. Information on the natural history of the species is moreover provided. 

Spanish:

 Se comentan nuevos registros de aves de Cuba, como el guacamayo cubano (Ara tricolor), hallado en dos sitios arqueológicos de La Habana Vieja, de los siglos XVII y XVIII, asimismo, el búho de Arredondo (Pulsatrix arredondoi), ave extinta en tiempos prehistóricos, cuyos restos hemos colectado en dos cuevas de la comunidad Las Charcas, municipio San José de las Lajas, provincia Mayabeque, y por último, el carpintero real (Campephilus principalis), colectado en la Cueva del Aguacate, sitio localizado también en la comunidad Las Charcas. El resto óseo de P. arredondoi colectado en la Cueva de Las Charcas procede de un contexto paleontológico. En cambio, el otro resto proviene de la Cueva de los Muertos, que es un sitio arqueológico de aborígenes arcaicos, también conocidos como apropiadores mesolíticos. Por vez primera se considera la posibilidad de que P. arredondoi formara parte de la dieta de los aborígenes precolombinos citados. El registro de C. principalis representa el primer hallazgo de esta especie en contextos paleontológicos de Cuba. Adicionalmente se aporta información novedosa sobre la historia natural de las especies tratadas. 

 Citation: 

 Jiménez, O. & Orihuela, J. (2021) «Nuevos hallazgos de aves en contextos paleontológicos y arqueológicos de Cuba», Novitates Caribaea, (17), pp. 163-176. doi: 10.33800/nc.vi17.251.

When did the turkey vulture arrive in Cuba?

All the American vultures belong to the Cathartidae, a neotropical endemic and diverse bird family of carrion scavengers. Currently, the family is integrated by four buzzard-like vultures and three condors including the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), the black vulture (Coragyps atratus), up to the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) and the Andean condor (Vulture gryphus).

 

Of these New World vultures, the genus Cathartes is the most diverse with three species, C. burrovianus, C. melanbrothus, and C. aura. Of these, the turkey vulture Cathartes aura, along with the black vulture Coragyps atratus, are the most widespread, inhabiting nearly all the American continent and parts of the West Indies, including the island of Cuba. Turkey vultures abound on the island and is easily observable today. But when did it reach Cuba? When did it become part of its fauna? Was it before or after the arrival of Europeans?

Cathartidae fossils are known in the New World, confidently, since at least late Miocene, and more so during the Pliocene-Pleistocene epoch, meaning during the last 6 million years. Interestingly, fossil Cathartidae have been reported from the late Oligocene (~23 million years) of Mongolia (Emslie, 1988). With such a long fossil record, one would think that the presence of the turkey vulture in Cuba spans to the Pleistocene. At least, that was what was originally thought by Cuban paleontologists.

The source of uncertainty is because turkey vultures seem to have a poor fossil record in Cuba. Several remains found in cave deposits near the capital city of La Habana, in Cueva Lamas and Cueva del Túnel, were at first interpreted as Late Pleistocene in age (see Arredondo, 1984). These specimens were later revised by the Cuban paleornithologist extraordinaire, William Suárez, who concluded that these were modern specimens and not fossil material (mixing of bone remains in caves is a common phenomenon, and one must be extra careful in discerning what is a fossil, or subfossil, and what is modern).

Based on the research of the Cuban zooarchaeologist Osvaldo Jiménez, turkey vulture remains have been identified in early 17th-century colonial contexts of La Habana Vieja (Old Havana), which agree with documentation of the time. Jiménez argues that the species was already considered common in Jamaica by 1680, where it adopted the name of John Crow. It was from this island that the species spread into Cuba, Hispaniola, and Bahamas, becoming established by the late 18th century. It was further introduced in Puerto Rico during the 19th century for sanitary reasons (Jiménez and Arrazcaeta, 2008).

Two important accounts document the presence and widespread of the turkey vulture in Cuba during the colonial period. One is a mention made by the governor of the eastern department of Cuba, Juan Garcia de Navia Castrillón, in June of 1617. The other is a watercolor sketch made by soldier Henry Fletcher in august 1762, during the Siege of Havana by the British (see figure below). This illustration brings an interesting note that reads “head of a turkey buzzard or carrion crow, a fowl common in the West Indies. The body resembles very much a large brown turkey”.  Both accounts support the apparent widespread of this species on the islands by then.

"head of a turkey buzzard or carrion crow, a fowl common in the West Indies.
The body resembles very much a large brown turkey"
By Henry Fletcher (august 1762).
Digital scan of the John Carter Brown Library, Rhode Island.

More recently, however, during our excavations of Cueva de los Nesofontes at Palenque Hill (source of several posts in this blog, available here and here), we encountered several unequivocal Cathartes aura subfossil remains in beds dated to less than a couple thousand years before the present (Orihuela, 2019). These fossils seem to reinstate that the turkey vulture was present in Cuba before European arrival for at least several thousands of years.

Cathartes aura from a cave deposit at Cueva de los Nesofontes, Cuba
 

This makes sense biogeographically, due to the proximity of the Greater Antilles and the continental mainland. In fact, many of the turkey vulture groups that migrate between parts of the continents, do so by flying over the same span of Caribbean ocean (Moore, 2000). Moreover, fossils of the species have also been found in Bahamian sinkhole deposits (Ficus Pit, in San Salvador, see Olson et al., 1990). Olson and colleagues reached the conclusion, as we do here, that turkey vultures likely arrived in the Greater Antilles due to natural expansion, especially after the extinction of many of the islands large and diverse raptors probably during the Holocene.



Cited Literature

Arredondo, O. (1980). Sinopsis de las aves halladas en depósitos fosilíferos Pleisto-Holocenicos de Cuba. Reporte de Investigación del Instituto de Zoología, 17: 1-35.

Emslie, S. D. (1988). The fossil history and phylogenetic relationships of condors (Ciconiiformes: Vulturidae) in the New World. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 8(2):212-228.

Fletcher, Henry (1757–1765) Seven Year’s War journal of the 35th regiment on foot (unedited 1409 manuscript). John Carter Brown Library, Rhode Island.

Jiménez Vázquez, O. and Arrazcaeta, R. 2008. Las aves en la arqueología histórica de La
Habana Vieja. Boletín del Gabinete de Arqueología, 7:17–29.
Moore, R. (2000). A fallout of turkey vultures over Florida Bay with notes on water crossing behavior. Florida Field Naturalist, 28(3): 118-121.

Olson, S. L., G. K. Pregill, and W. B. Hilgartner (1990). Studies on fossil and extant vertebrates from San Salvador (Watling’s) Island, Bahamas. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.

Orihuela, J. (2019). An annotated list of Late Quaternary extinct birds of Cuba. Ornitología
Neotropical, 30: 57–67.

 

 

Updated list of Cuba’s extinct birds

Cuba had a former, richly diverse bird fauna, most of which is today extinct. In recent years, the known species have seen revisions, additions, and deletions that have changed the topography of the species' roster. For the benefit of all those interested, here I provide an actualized list of Cuba’s extinct birds reflecting those changes.

This has been the recent topic of an article I have now submitted to an ornithological journal with the hopes that it may aid my peers in understanding the diversity of long-gone Cuban birds. But most especially, my intent has been to divulge in a single compendium an actualized list that reflects those recent changes.

Update: this paper is now published and available at the journal Ornitologia Neotropical here.

Much work it is jet to be done, and with the interesting new deposits being explored and researched in the Greater Antillean island of Hispaniola and The Bahamas, it would not surprise me to see Cuban species, even some of those we today consider endemics, appear in those contexts.


With that said, here is the list:

 
Supercohort: Dinosauria

Class: Aves

Order: Pelecaniformes

Family: Ardeidae Leach, 1820
(Herons and egrets)

Tigrisoma mexicanum Swaison 1834, reported by Olson & Suarez (2008). This is a Tiger-heron.

 

Order: Ciconiiformes

Family: Ciconiidae J. E. Gray, 1840
(Cranes)

Ciconia lydekkeri (Ameghino 1891), is considered a senior synonym of C. maltha (L. Miller 1910:440) by Agnolin (2009).
 

Ciconia sp. This species was mentioned by Suárez & Olson (2003a: 151) .

Mycteria wetmorei Howard 1935: 253. (See Iturralde et al. 2000; Suárez & Olson 2003a).

 

Order: Incertae Sedis or Accipitriformes

Family: Teratornithidae L. Miller, 1909
(large, near flightless terrestrial raptor birds)

Oscaravis olsoni (Arredondo & Arredondo 1999:16) (=Teratornis olsoni) amended and redescribed by Suárez & Olson (2009:106).

Order: Accipitriformes or Cathartiformes

Family: Cathartidae Lafresnaye, 1839
(vultures and condors)

Gymnogyps varonai (Arredondo 1971:310) (=Antillovultur varonai). Amended by Suárez (2000a).

Cathartes sp. 1 or Cathartidae indet. 2. See Suárez (2001c:110).

 

Family: Accipitridae Vieillot, 1816
(hawks and falcons)

Amplibuteo woodwardi (L. Miller 1911:312), reported in Suárez (2004).

Buteo lineatus (Gmelin 1788:268), reported in Suárez & Olson (2003b).

Buteogallus borrasi (Arredondo 1970) =Aquila borrasi Arredondo (1970) amended by Suárez & Olson 2007.

Black-Chested Buzzard Eagle Geranoaetus melanoleucus Swan, 1922:67. Reported by Alexander Wetmore (1928).

Gigantohierax suarezi Arredondo & Arredondo 1999: 10. Now includes specimens previously identified as Aguila borrasi (=Buteogallus borrasi).

Caracara creightoni Brodkorb 1959:353, reported by Suárez & Olson (2003c:306).

Milvago carbo Suárez & Olson (2003:302).

Milvago sp. from Suárez & Arrendondo (1997).

Falco femoralis Temminck 1922:121. This Aplomado falcon was reported by Suárez & Olson (2003b).

 

Aplomado Falcon (Falco femoralis) near the town of Tinke, at the foot of the majestic Ausangate Mountain, Peru.

Falco kurochkini Suárez & Olson 2001a:35.

 

Order: Gruiformes

Family: Gruidae Vigors, 1825
(storks)

Grus cubensis (Fischer & Stephan 1971a:565).

 

Family: Rallidae Rafinesque, 1815

Nesotrochis picapicensis (Fischer & Stephan 1971b:595), revised and amended by Olson (1974). This is an endemic near-flightless Cuban rail. Puerto Rico had a similar species.

 

Order: Charadriiformes

Family: Burhinidae Mathews, 1912

Burhinus sp. reported by Oscar Arredondo (1984). This is another form of water bird called the Double-striped Thick-knee that lives in Central and South America.

 

Family: Scolopacidae Rafinesque, 1815

Gallinago kakuki by Steadman & Takano (2016: 348). Formerly Capella sp. (Suárez 2004a). This is a type of sandpiper or snipe.

 

Order: Psittaciformes

Family:  Psittacidae Rafinesque, 1815

Ara tricolor Bechstein 1811:64 (= A. cubensis of Wetherbee, 1985). The Cuban macaw:  see my previous post on this species here.

 

Family: Tytonidae Ridgway, 1914

Tyto noeli Arredondo 1972a: 416. This species new included Tyto neddi of Steadman & Hilgartner (1999) from Barbuda. This is a large barn owl, like the other species listed below.

Tyto pollens Wetmore 1937:436. This taxon now includes Tyto riveroi Arredondo 1972b: 131. The rarest of all Cuban tytonids, known from a single locality. 

Tyto cravesae Suárez & Olson 2015: 544.

Tyto sp. A small species reported by Suárez & Díaz-Franco (2003: 375).

 

Family: Strigidae Leach, 1820

Bubo osvaldoi Arredondo & Olson 1994:438.

Pulsatrix arredondoi Brodkorb, 1969: 112.

Ornimegalonyx oteroi Arredondo 1958: 11.

Ornimegalonyx acevedoi Arredondo, 1982: 95.

Ornimegalonyx minor Arredondo, 1982: 46.

Ornimegalonyx gigas Arredondo, 1982: 47.

It is likely that all Ornimegalonyx represent a single species. Their size disparity could be due to sexual dimorphism, chrono-temporal or/and individual variation (Alegre 2002).

 

Order: Caprimulgiformes

Family: Caprimulgidae Vigors, 1825

Siphonorhis daiquiri Olson, 1985:528. This is the endemic pauraque or Cuban Poorwill, a species of nightjar.

 

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Rhinocryptidae Wetmore, 1930

Scytalopus sp. reported by Olson and Kurochkin (1987). This is a small passerine bird commonly known as "tapaculo".

 

Family: Icteridae

Dolichonyx kruegeri Fischer & Stephan (1971: 597). This is likely a misidentified specimen of Bobolink (D. oryzivorus), an uncommon transient species in Cuba (Garrido & Kirkconnell 2000: 218).