Family New World Warblers (Parulidae)

Least Concern

Northern Parula (Setophaga americana)

Taxonomy

French: Paruline à collier German: Meisenwaldsänger Spanish: Parula norteña

Taxonomy:

Parus americanus

Linnaeus

, 1758,

northern America = South Carolina, USA

Previously placed in genus Parula, along with S. pitiayumi, as well as Oreothlypis gutturalis and O. superciliosa (which are closer to Vermivora). Has hybridized with S. dominica, as well as with S. ruticilla and S. coronata. Sometimes considered conspecific with S. pitiayumi, but the two differ in migratory behaviour and plumage characters. NE populations proposed as race pusilla (described from Pennsylvania) and W ones as race ludoviciana (from Mississippi Valley), the latter based on difference in Type 1 song; both generally considered insufficiently differentiated to warrant recognition. Monotypic.

Distribution:

SE Canada (SE Manitoba E to Nova Scotia) and E USA (Minnesota, Michigan and New England S, excluding most of S Great Lakes area, to Gulf of Mexico coast and C Florida). Winters from E Mexico S to Honduras (rare to C Panama), and in West Indies; also winters in smaller numbers in S Florida and Bermuda.

Descriptive notes

10·5–12 cm; 7·1–10·2 g. Male has blue-grey head and upperparts, with large yellowish-green patch on mantle, blackish lores, prominent white... read more

Voice

Has two song types. Typical Type 1 song is a rising, buzzy, pulsating trill that ends abruptly with... read more

Habitat

Breeds in wide variety of woodlands and forests, almost always associated with old man's beard... read more

Food and feeding

Feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates, such as spiders (Araneae); may take some berries, seeds and nectar in winter, and has been... read more

Breeding

Season Apr–Aug, egg-laying Apr–Jul. Polygyny has been recorded. Nest almost always formed in hanging bunch of Usnea or... read more

Movements

Migratory. Leaves breeding areas in Aug, majority moving S along Atlantic coast to Florida and then... read more

Status and conservation

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Generally common throughout range. Populations appear to be stable, although recent short-term declines detected in E range, along... read more

Bibliography

Public comments

Scientific classification

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Parulidae

— Show family text —

Previously considered to include species now separated in Peucedramidae, Zeledoniidae and Teretistridae, as well as two genera now in Phaenicophilidae. The most comprehensive molecular phylogeny of present family to date#R recovered nine principal clades; almost all genera correspond to well-supported units, while two confined to West Indies are maintained based on other characters. Several traditionally recognized genera prove to be paraphyletic or otherwise unsustainable: Dendroica is abandoned because Setophaga is nested within it and has priority; Ergaticus is embedded within the clade occupied by Cardellina; Euthlypis is subsumed within Basileuterus; Oporornis is restricted to one species while its former congeners are removed to Geothlypis; Parula proves to be widely paraphyletic (two species move to Setophaga, the rest to a resurrected Oreothlypis); Phaeothlypis is indistinguishable from Myiothlypis; and the three Wilsonia are more correctly placed in Cardellina (two species) and Setophaga (one).

Genus: Setophaga Swainson, 1827

— Show genus text —

Previously restricted to a single species (S. ruticilla); but comprehensive molecular phylogeny reveals that this species is deeply embedded within large clade that includes two species formerly in Parula (S. americana and S. pitiayumi) and another (S. citrina) traditionally in Wilsonia, as well as all species previously treated in Dendroica#R; Catharopeza might also be subsumed into this genus#R, but better maintained as a separate monospecific genus, in view of unusual morphology and behaviour, as well as its basal position in the clade. As type species of Parula, Wilsonia and Dendroica are all included in present grouping, these names become synonyms of oldest available name for this clade, Setophaga.

See full taxonomic structure and notes