woodwarbler

wood warbler n.

See warbler.

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▪ bird

      any of several members of the songbird family Parulidae (formerly Compsothlypidae or Mniotiltidae, order Passeriformes). They are New World birds distinct from the true warblers of the Old World (see warbler).

      The more than 100 species of woodwarblers are small, active birds commonly found in woodlands but present also in marshes and dry scrub. Most are brightly coloured, at least in the breeding season. All have short thin bills. Typically, parulids glean insects from foliage. Their songs tend to be buzzy and monotonous. The usual nest is a tidy cup in a bush or a tree; some (e.g., ovenbird; q.v.) make a domed nest on or near the ground. Woodwarblers lay two to five (rarely six) speckled eggs.

      Best-known is the yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia), breeding from Alaska and Newfoundland to the West Indies, Peru, and the Galápagos Islands; sometimes miscalled the wild canary, it is 13 cm (5 inches) long, yellow, with faintly red-streaked underparts (males). It belongs to the largest, and chiefly North American, genus of woodwarblers; this genus has 27 species, most of which have contrasting plumage, such as the black, white, and yellow of the myrtle warbler (D. coronata). A common but less striking species is the blackpoll warbler (D. striata). Some authors merge Dendroica in Vermivora, a less colourful genus of 11 species, most of them well known in the United States. The family's namesake, the northern, or American, parula warbler (Parula americana), breeding in eastern North America, is pale blue, with white wing bars, partial white eye-ring, and yellow breast crossed by a narrow dark band. The black and white warbler (Mniotilta varia), common east of the Rockies, is streaked and has creeperlike habits. A large tropical genus is Basileuterus; the 22 species are typified by the golden-crowned warbler (B. culicivorus), found from Mexico to Argentina.

      The yellowthroats, any of the eight species of the genus Geothlypis, live in marshes and wet thickets. The male of the common yellowthroat (G. trichas)—often called Maryland yellowthroat in the United States—is yellow with a black mask; his song, a strong, repeated “wicheree,” is heard from Alaska and Newfoundland to Mexico. The other species are resident in the tropics. For other woodwarblers see chat; redstart.

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