#Northern Parula

[maureen2musings]

Ray Hennessy

[brooklynbridgebirds]

Northern Parula Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 6

[fullfrontalbirds]

Northern Parula (Setophaga americana)

© Matt Felperin

[occasionallybirds]

Northern Parula (Setophaga americana)

October 6, 2023

John Heinz National Wildlife Preserve, Tinicum, Pennsylvania

[birds-and-flowers]

Northern Parula (Setophaga americana)

© Dan Hayes

[na-bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Northern Parula

Photo: Andrew Weitzel

"This small warbler is often hard to see as it forages in dense foliage of the treetops. However, it is easy to hear; the male seems to repeat his buzzy trickle-up song constantly from early spring through mid-summer at least. Northern Parulas hide their nests inside hanging Spanish moss in the South, or in the similar Usnea lichens in the North, where they are impossible to spot except by the actions of the parent birds."

- Audubon Field Guide

[podartists]

Setophaga americana | Vermivora cyanoptera | Mniotilta varia | Vermivora chrysoptera | Helmitheros vermivorum

Plate XI | Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt (1891)

[birdblues]

Northern Parula

[proton-wobbler]

Genus: Setophaga

Originally, this genus was only used for the American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). Meaning 'moth-eater', it was used to refer to the flycatcher-like habits of the American Restart, which sallies forth from a perch to catch flying insects rather than plucking them from vegetation.

In 2010, however, a newly published paper disrupted what was thought of Parulidae taxonomy. Using a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analysis of the family, several genus were merged into Setophaga. Not only that, but a separate genus of warbler was cleaved in two based on the findings.

The Hooded Warbler was previously listed under the genus Wilsonia along with Wilson's Warbler and Canada Warbler. They had even been in an obsolete genus together before this (Sylvania), though this was changed to Wilsonia for other reasons. The 2010 study showed that Wilsonia was polyphyletic, meaning the group may share similar traits, but do not share a common ancestor. Hooded Warbler was moved to Setophaga and Wilson's and Canada Warbler were placed into Cardellina, an existing genus with Red-faced, Pink-headed, and Red Warbler.

The two Parula species were also folded into Setophaga as a result of the 2010 study. The Northern and Tropical Parula were originally the only two members of this genus, with the Northern Parula being the type-specimen of New World Warblers as a whole. I find that a bit ironic, as they are one of the smallest warblers and show quite an unusual color patter when compared to the rest of Parulidae, but I don't exactly know how type-specimen are chosen.

The largest genus to be merged with Setophaga was Dendroica. When I first began learning species names, I was familiar with this as the genus for most warblers. Due to the way taxonomic names work, the name which was published first takes precedent in these merging scenarios. So, despite the fact Dendroica had around 30 species and Setophaga had just 1, Setophaga was published first in 1827 (Dendroica in 1842).

In summary, Setophaga went from just a single species to now being the largest in the Parulid family, holding 34 species!

Image Sources: AMRE (Dan Pancamo); HOWA (Ninahale); NOPA (Dan Pancamo); MAWA (Cephas)

[introvertedswimmer]

Northern Parula

[rjalker]

I have compiled my almost 500 animal call recordings and put them on the web archive and itch.io for people to easily download for use in video games and movies, as public domain!

You are explicitly encouraged to download and share these! Use them for games, audio books, music, movies, educational stuff, anything you want! share the link on other sites too!

They're all loaded on the web archive!

"https://archive.org/details/public-domain-animal-sounds"

Here's my general itch.io page where you can see everything

As of 10/06/2023, there' 490 total!

I'll also add them to Itch.io so people can leave tips if they want and that link will be added to this post, but if you're able to, please donate to the Web Archive!

The itch.io files will be sorted by species!

Here's a few links for specific species. I was going to put them all but there's too many lol...

American Crow Calls (30)

Barred Owl Calls (25)

Belted Kingfisher (1)

Blue Jay Calls (17)

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (12)

Also reminder that all my photos on iNaturalist are public domain :) I've observed 1,339 species as of January 7th 2024!

As are all my youtube videos. I even made a playlist just for videos I took specifically to be stock videos :)

"Free stock videos of stuff" (mostly water)

[maureen2musings]

wind.and.wing

[brooklynbridgebirds]

Northern Parula Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 3

[necrofauna]

[blarplesnoot]

This is the only Northern Parula I've ever seen in connecticut! I was fortunate enough to spot this guy in a bush while photographing Titmice that were collecting things. At first I thought it was an eastern bluebird, but when I realized it had yellow on its beak I was super excited to add a new bird to the life list.

Fun fact, these birds build their nests with moss. Must be super duper cozy :-)

D500 @500mm FL

[katyunderthebed]

Warblers, assorted