Demography and Populations

On Cuba this bullfinch has been considered as common to not common (Gundlach 1876, Todd 1916, Barbour 1945, García 1987, Garrido and Kirkconnell 2011) and has a large range of distribution across the country. The global population size has not been quantified, but this species is described as 'fairly common' (UICN, 2011) and the population appears to be stable (BirdLife International 2012).

Gálvez et al. (1999) provided preliminary information about population dynamics of the species in the Mil Cumbres protected area, Pinar del Rio, noting that it is equally abundant in the habitats studied, which could be due to the small size of the habitat patches and the mobility of the species. There is a possibility, however, that the metapopulation in this area could be suffering cycles of extinction and recolonization.
In Cuba the species has been an object of interest for people since at least the beginning of the 19th century (Orbigny 1839, Gundlach 1876), and although trapping of bullfinches is a traditional activity that has been carried out for years, without apparent damage to the population, this activity now seems to be increasing. The capture of wild birds, for illegal cage bird trade purposes, could affect population dynamics. Most captures are focused on juvenile males, which could affect sexual and age rates in wild populations (Ruiz and Ayón 2012). There is no information about local extirpations or population declines in the country. However, the results of interviews conducted in Cuba (Ayón 2001) suggest that the specie is now rare or even absent in places where it was formerly common. This scenario warrants the need to conduct bird population census as well as productivity and survival studies with local populations.

There is no information related to life span and survivorship, dispersal or population regulation. In captivity, the age recorded for first breeding is second year (for male) and there are two records of captive males with a life span of 12 and 13 years old (Ayón personal observations).

Subspecies taylori is a common year-round resident on Grand Cayman Island, and is most abundant at North Side, North Sound Estates and back of South Sound Swamp (Raffale 1998). In Little Cayman, is only known from a single observation (Bradley 1995, Raffaele et al. 2003).