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How Did Bobwhites Get to Cuba?
Did humans introduce them, and why do they look so different?
© Celene Salgado-Miranda, Angélica Espinoza-Ortega, Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jorgan, and Edgardo Soriano-Vargas
Cuba is home to a unique population of Northern Bobwhites, with plumage patterns and short bills that set them apart from bobwhites on mainland North America. But where these quail came from has been a mystery. Did humans introduce them from the mainland? If so, when, and why do they look so different? Recent scientific detective work may have uncovered the answer.
BirdNote®
How Did Bobwhites Get to Cuba?
Written by Rebecca Heisman
This is BirdNote.
[Cuban soundscape]
Cuba is home to a unique population of Northern Bobwhites, with plumage patterns and short bills that set them apart from bobwhites on mainland North America. But where these quail came from has been a mystery.
[Northern Bobwhite song]
Did humans introduce them from the mainland? If so, when, and why do they look so different?
The first written record of bobwhites in Cuba is from 1839. One historical account claims that a Spaniard introduced bobwhites near Havana in the late 1700s, but that doesn’t explain how they took on distinct traits so quickly. Confusingly, the same account also says bobwhites were already living elsewhere in Cuba!
But recent scientific detective work may have uncovered the answer. By analyzing DNA from museum specimens, researchers showed that Cuban bobwhites are hybrids, descended from two different mainland populations that arrived at two different times.
[Northern Bobwhite song]
It seems that bobwhites from Mexico came to Cuba sometime between the 12th and 16th centuries, possibly introduced by the island’s original Indigenous peoples. Then, Spanish colonists brought birds from what’s now the southeast U.S. less than 300 years ago. These new arrivals interbred with the already established birds, creating today’s distinctive population.
[Northern Bobwhite song]
For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Environmental ML133208 recorded by Gregory Budney, and Northern Bobwhite ML63289481 recorded by Tom Johnson.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote December 2023
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# NOBO-03-2023-12-26 NOBO-03
Reference:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.16990
Rebecca Heisman
Writer
Ariana Remmel
NarratorSights & Sounds
