palmchat

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the palmchat in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the French colony of Saint-Domingue, modern Haiti. He used the French name Le tangara de S. Dominigue and the Latin Tangara Dominicensis.{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés | volume=3 | language=French, Latin | place=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche | pages=37–38, Plate 2 fig 4 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35952986 }} The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.{{cite journal |last=Allen | first=J.A. | author-link=Joel Asaph Allen | year=1910 | title=Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=28 | pages=317–335 | hdl=2246/678 }} When the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition in 1766, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson, with one of them being the palmchat. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Tanagra dominica and cited Brisson's work.{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1766 | title=Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=12th | volume=1, Part 1 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | place=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | page=316 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42946512 }}

The palmchat is the only species placed in the genus Dulus that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816.{{cite book | last=Vieillot | first=Louis Pierre | author-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot | title=Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire | publisher=Deterville/self | year=1816 | location=Paris | page=42 | language=French| url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9745205x/f48.image }}{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2018 | title=Waxwings and allies, tits, penduline tits | work=World Bird List Version 8.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waxwings/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=16 May 2018 }} The species is monotypic.

Palmchats are about {{convert|20|cm|0|abbr=on}} in length. They are olive-brown above, and heavily streaked with brown below. Their rumps, as well as the edges of their primary feathers, are dark yellow-green. They have strong yellow bills and russet eyes. They lack the soft silky plumage of the waxwings or silky-flycatchers. Adults show no sexual dimorphism; immature birds have dark throats.{{cn|date=August 2022}}

The species is endemic to the island of Hispaniola (in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and the adjacent Saona and Gonâve Islands, where it is common and widespread. It inhabits areas from sea level to 1500 m asl where palm savannas can be found, or other open areas with scattered trees. Where its food trees are present, it has adapted well to city parks and gardens.{{cn|date=August 2022}}

Palmchats are very sociable birds, often seen in small flocks containing several pairs, which will roost closely together with their bodies in contact.

The breeding season is mainly from March to June. The birds build large, messy, communal nests of twigs in the crowns of palms (mainly Puerto Rico royal palms, Roystonea borinquena). Occasionally, in the absence of palms, other trees or even telephone poles may be used. The whole nesting structure may be up to 2 m across, containing up to 30 adjoining nests with their own separate chambers and entrances. The females lay clutches of 2-4 thickly spotted, grey-purple eggs.{{cn|date=August 2022}}

Palmchats feed on fruits and berries, including those of palms and of the gumbo-limbo tree, as well as on flowers, especially those of epiphytic orchids.{{cn|date=August 2022}}

They are voluble and noisy birds, with a large repertoire of gurgling and cheeping sounds constantly used in their social behaviour.{{cn|date=August 2022}}

With their loud whistles, they are able to imitate the calls of hawks and kestrels which may be a surprise coming from their tiny bodies. They are typically classified as songbirds, but hardly ever make a coherent song.{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia|last=Fernandez|first=Eladio M.|title=Palmchats (Dulidae)|via=Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/palmchats-dulidae|access-date=28 December 2022|editor-last=Grzimek|editor-first=Bernhard|year=2019}}

The palmchat is a common species within its range of about {{convert|75000|km²|0|abbr=on}}, and highly adaptable. As it is not approaching the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), it has been evaluated as being of Least Concern.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://montereybay.com/creagrus/palmchat.html Don Roberson's Bird Families of the World]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091027111933/http://www.geocities.com/cuyaya/endemics.html The Endemic Birds of Hispaniola]

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Category:Birds described in 1766

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Category:Endemic birds of Hispaniola

Category:Endemic birds of the Caribbean

Category:Endemic fauna of Hispaniola

Category:Birds of the Dominican Republic

Category:Birds of Haiti

Category:Birds of the Greater Antilles

Category:Birds of the Lesser Antilles

Category:National symbols of the Dominican Republic

Category:Bombycilloidea

Category:Extant Miocene first appearances