Worm-eating Warbler
| Worm-eating Warbler | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Parulidae |
| Genus: | Helmitheros Rafinesque, 1819 |
| Species: | H. vermivorum |
| Binomial name | |
| Helmitheros vermivorum (Gmelin 1789) | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
|
Helmitheros vermivorus | |
The Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum) is a small New World warbler.
It is 13 cm long and weighs 13 g. It is relatively plain with olive-brown upperparts and light-coloured underparts, but has black and light brown stripes on its head. It has a slim pointed bill and pink legs. In immature birds, the head stripes are brownish.
This bird breeds in dense deciduous forests in the eastern United States, usually on wooded slopes. The nest is an open cup placed on the ground, hidden among dead leaves. The female lays 4 or 5 eggs. Both parents feed the young; they may try to distract predators near the nest by pretending to be injured.
In winter, these birds migrate to southern Mexico and Central America.
Worm-eating Warblers eat insects, usually searching in dead leaves or bark on trees and shrubs, also picking through dead leaves on the forest floor. Despite their name, they rarely if ever eat earthworms.
The male's song is a short high-pitched trill. This bird's call is a chip or tseet.
Worm-eating Warblers have disappeared from some parts of their range due to habitat loss. They are vulnerable to nest parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird where forests are fragmented.
Taxonomy
Worm-eating Warbler is the only species currently classified in the genus Helmitheros.[3] However, Swainson's Warbler has previously been in this genus as H. swainsonii.[4]
References
- ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Helmitheros vermivorum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ↑ Helmitheros vermivorum on Avibase
- ↑ Curson, Jon; Quinn, David; Beadle, David (1994). New World Warblers. London: Christopher Helm. p. 163. ISBN 0-7136-3932-6.
- ↑ Helinaia swainsonii on Avibase
- Hanners, L. A., and S. R. Patton. 1998. Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorus). In The Birds of North America, No. 367 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Philadelphia, PA.
- Stiles and Skutch, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica’’ ISBN 0-8014-9600-4
External links
- Worm-eating Warbler Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Worm-eating Warbler - Helmitheros vermivorus - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter