Northern Parula

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Northern Parula

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Parulidae
Genus:	Parula
Species:	P. americana

Binomial name

Parula americana
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms

Compsothlyphis americana

The Northern Parula, Parula americana, is a small New World warbler. It breeds in eastern North America from southern Canada to Florida.

This species is migratory, wintering in southern Florida, northern Central America, the West Indies and most of the Lesser Antilles. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

The Northern Parula is 11 cm long and has mainly gray upperparts, with a greenish back patch and two white wingbars. The breast is yellowish shading into the white belly. The summer male has bluish and rufous breast bands and prominent white eye crescents. Females are duller and lack the breast bands. The breeding habitat is humid woodland with growths of Old Man's Beard lichen or Spanish moss. Northern Parulas nest in trees in clumps of these mosses, laying 3-7 eggs in a scantily-lined cup nest.

These birds feed on insects and spiders. Their song is a click-like trill or buzz, zeeeeee-yip. Their call is a soft chip.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Parula americana. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern