Zapata wren

The Zapata Wren is a medium-sized, grayish-brown bird that inhabits the dense shrubs of the Zapata Swamp in Cuba. This distinctive bird is the sole member of its genus, Ferminia, and is found nowhere else in the world. Regrettably, it is currently classified as endangered.

This intriguing species was discovered in 1926 by Thomas Barbour, who named it in honor of his colleague Fermín Zanón Cervera. Measuring about 16 centimeters in length, the Zapata Wren has a brown body adorned with black stripes, grayish underparts, and a long tail. Its song, reminiscent of that of the house wren, is a high-pitched, loud, melodic warble followed by guttural notes.

The Zapata Wren is confined to the Zapata Peninsula in southern Cuba, where it thrives in freshwater marshes and lowland savannas dotted with bushes and low trees. Its diet is quite varied, including insects, spiders, small snails, lizards, and berries. Typically, these birds nest in sawgrass tussocks and are believed to breed from January to July.

Unfortunately, the Zapata Wren faces several threats. Fires during the dry season, wetland drainage, agricultural activities, and predation by introduced species such as mongooses and rats pose significant risks to its survival.

Thomas Barbour officially described the Zapata Wren, naming it cerverai to honor Fermín Zanón Cervera, the Spanish naturalist who discovered the bird. Barbour and Cervera worked closely together, with Cervera undertaking the crucial expedition into the Zapata region to locate the wren. In Spanish, the bird is affectionately known as ferminia.