TROPICAL PARULA

The 'Tropical Parula', ''Parula pitiayumi'', is a small New World warbler. It breeds from southernmost Texas and northwest Mexico (Sonora) south through Central America to northern Argentina, including Trinidad and Tobago.

Contents

Life history

Taxonomy

References

Further reading

Book

Articles

Life history

It is a species mainly of hill forests, and does not occur in the Amazon basin. It nests in clumps of epiphytes, especially Spanish moss, in a tree, laying usually two eggs in a scantily lined domed nest. Incubation is 12-14 days, mainly by the female.
This warbler is not migratory, but northern birds may make local movements.
The Tropical Parula is 11 cm long and has mainly blue-grey upperparts, with a greenish back patch and two white wingbars. The underparts are yellow, becoming orange on the breast. The male has a black patch from the bill to behind the eye.
Females are slightly duller than the males and lacks black on the head. The immature Tropical Parula is dull plumaged, lacks the wing bars, and has a grey band on the breast.
Most Tropical Parulas can be distinguished from the closely related Northern Parula by their lack of white eye crescents, but hybrids exist in South Texas. One should also look for the distribution and extent of non-yellow coloration on the breast, and the extent of yellow on the malar and belly.
These birds feed on insects and spiders and occasionally berries. The song is a high buzzy trill, and the call is a sharp ''tsit''.

Taxonomy

Tropical Parula has about 14 subspecies, with a wide range of plumage tones. Some (especially insular ones) are considered separate species by various authorities. ''P. pitiayumi'' has occasionally been lumped with ''P. americana'' as a single species. Hybrids are routinely found in southern Texas, though this may be a recent phenomenon.

References

★ Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

★ Curson, J., Quinn, D. & Beadle, D. (1994). ''New World Warblers''. Helm. ISBN 0-7136-3932-6

★ ''Birds of Venezuela'' by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5

★ A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, , Richard, ffrench, Comstock Publishing, 1991,

Further reading

Book

★ Regelski, D. J., and R. R. Moldenhauer. 1997. ''Tropical Parula (Parula pitiayumi)''. In ''The Birds of North America'', No. 293 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.

Articles

★ ALABARCE, E. A. (1987) ''NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF SOME PASSERINES BIRDS FROM NORTHWEST ARGENTINA I''. Acta Zoologica Lilloana. vol '39' no 1. p. 23-28. (article in Spanish, English abstract)

★ Baptista, F. Luis, and Juan E. Martinez Gomez. (2002) ''Bioacoustic reasearch Revillagigedo Archipielago birds: a progress report''. HUITZIL. '3' p.33-41. (article in Spanish, English abstract)

★ Camperi, Anibal R. (1992) ''Study on birds collected in the southwestern extreme of Buenos Aires Province ''. Neotropica (La Plata). vol '38' no 100. 1992, 1993. p. 127-140. (article in Spanish, English abstract)

★ Cueto VR & de Casenave JL. (2002). ''Foraging behavior and microhabitat use of birds inhabiting coastal woodlands in eastcentral Argentina''. Wilson Bulletin. vol '114', no 3. p. 342-348.

★ Jehl JRJ & Parkes KC. (1982). ''The Status of the Avi Fauna of the Revillagigedo Islands Mexico''. Wilson Bulletin. vol '94', no 1. p. 1-19.

★ Naoki K, and E. Toapanta. (2001) ''Mullerian body feeding by Andean birds: New mutualistic relationship or evolutionary time lag? ''. BIOTROPICA. vol '33' no 1. p. 204-207

★ Lovette, Irby J and Eldredge Bermingham. (2001) ''Mitochondrial perspective on the phylogenetic relationships of the Parula Wood-warblers''. The Auk. Vol '118', no 1. p. 211 (5 pages)

★ Waters A. (1994). ''Tropical parula seen in Augusta''. Oriole. vol '59', no 4.