#catharopeza

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Whistling Warbler (Greg Griffith)

[birdstudies]

June 16, 2019 - Whistling Warbler (Catharopeza bishopi)

These warblers are only found on the island of Saint Vincent in the Lesser Antilles. Their diet is primarily made up of insects and other arthropods, including ants and beetles. Residents of Saint Vincent report that these birds build cup-shaped nests in trees and bushes, but this has never been confirmed by ornithologists. They are listed as Endangered by the IUCN due to their small range and threats to their habitat from volcanic eruptions, logging, agriculture, and illegal cannabis farming.

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Warbler Showdown; Bracket 9.2, Poll 2

Whistling Warbler (Catharopeza bishopi)

IUCN Rating: Endangered

Range: resident; St. Vincent island

Habitat: primary growth montane forests, especially those thick with undergrowth.

Subspecies: none

Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum)

IUCN Rating: Least Concern

Range: migrant; Southeastern US is where they are most dense, though they will breed up to Massachusetts and along the Mississippi River into Wisconsin; overwinters in the Caribbean, as well as southern Mexico and Central America.

Habitat: found in mature deciduous and deciduous-coniferous forests, especially where these overlap with hillsides and shrub patches; overwintering habitat not well known, but it has been found in a variety of natural forested areas within its range.

Subspecies: none

Image Sources: Whistling (Frantz Delcroix); WEWA (Peter Schreck)

[proton-wobbler]

Whistling Warbler (Larry Therrien)

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Whistling Warbler by Joseph Smith

The Ibis, ser. 4, vol. 4, Public Domain

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juvenile Whistling Warbler (David Hollie)

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Warbler Showdown!

All members of the New World Warbler family, Parulidae, fight for their chance to be called Top Warbler*! This will be a big mess of rounds and brackets, broken up by genus mostly. There's also an extra bracket of "used-to-be warblers"- any species which used to be included in Parulidae before various studies determined their place outside of this family group. (*of the Americas)

A summary of the brackets below and fully listed out at: Round 1

Brackets 1 & 2: Setophaga

Coming in at a whopping 36 species (depending on who you ask), Setophaga has been broken up over two brackets to help deal with the amount. For the special case of Yellow-rumped Warbler, it will be split into three subspecies, rather than being represented as a single, confusingly diverse species. These warblers are typically the most well-known in the states, especially during spring migration.

Bracket 3: Myiothlypis

The first group of a split South American genus. There are more species in this genus (seventeen total), which is why it comes first.

Bracket 4: Basileuterus

The second of the South American split- with only twelve species compared to the eighteen above.

Bracket 5: Geothlypis

The yellowthroats! All members of this species have bright yellow throats and underbodies, and are often associated with marshy, reed-y ponds.

Bracket 6: Myioborus

The redstarts! Well, the American redstarts. The genus name actually means 'whitestart', and sometimes these species are referred to as such, but for my sources they all follow the 'redstart' name.

Bracket 7: Leiothlypis & Cardellina

Our first combo bracket. Leiothlypis are generally more dull than the Cardellina, so they'll be fighting within their own genus at first before being mix-matched to fight each other in the second round.

Bracket 8: Vermivora, Parkesia, & Oreothlypis

Three genuses, each with two extant species. The Bachman's Warbler, recently declared extinct, will still be included this bracket, though, so Vermivora will be represented by three species.

Bracket 9: Odd Ones Out

There are eight warblers who stand alone, each in their own genus. This is probably the most diverse bracket, then, with a variety of habitats and ranges represented within.

Bracket 10: "Y'all don't even go here!"/Not-"Warblers"

At one point or another, each of these ten birds was considered a part of the Parulidae family. They now span six families, with some birds being the sole member of their new family. Changing taxonomy is familiar amongst birders, and including these not-quite warblers pays homage to that.

The tentative schedule is one bracket per week, starting in early November. My queue will likely be filled with warblers before that, though :)

Edit: forgot to mention, but Birds of the World will be my info source throughout the poll, but as it is behind a paywall it will not be linked to each post. It functions as a sort of encyclopedia for all birds and is managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with its own citations of scientific papers when applicable. I personally dont recommend it for casual enjoyers, but it has been really good for gathering concrete information to share with y'all via this page.

[proton-wobbler]

Genus: Catharopeza

Whistling Warbler (Joseph Smit)

Originally described in Leucopeza, more recent genetic analysis suggested a split, as Whistling and Semper's Warbler are not sister species. Leucopeza has a relationship with another warbler genus, while Catharopeza is lies outside of the Setophaga clade. With katharos meaning 'bright', or 'clean' and peza as 'foot', we get "clean footed" or "bright footed", which I would assume is a reference to their pale legs. In the picture above, one might assume the black-and-white bird is a male and the brown-and-buff bird to be the female, but adults of this species share the same coloration. The browner bird is actually showing a young bird's plumage.

An endangered species, not much is written about the Whistling Warbler other than some descriptions of plumage and habitat. They seem to be very stout in body compared to other wood-warblers, but forage in a way similar to American Redstart.

[proton-wobbler]

Warbler Showdown; Bracket 9, Poll 3

Swainson's Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii)

IUCN Rating: Least Concern

Range: migrant; breeds in the Southeast and overwinters in the Caribbean, as well as the Yucatan Peninsula

Habitat: prefers a dense understory with lots of leaf litter and few herbaceous ground cover. Breeds in bottomland hardwood and montane forests, and early-growth seral pine stands, but is less picky when overwintering.

Subspecies: none

Whistling Warbler (Catharopeza bishopi)

IUCN Rating: Endangered

Range: resident; St. Vincent island

Habitat: primary growth montane forests, especially those thick with undergrowth.

Subspecies: none

Image Sources: Swainson (Dorian Anderson) Whistling (Frantz Delcroix)