#helmitheros

[herpsandbirds]

Worm-eating Warblers (Helmitheros vermivorum), family Parulidae, order Passeriformes, Galveston Island, TX, USA

photographs by Greg Lavaty

[proton-wobbler]

Warbler Showdown; Bracket 9.2, Poll 2

Whistling vs Worm-eating

Whistling Warbler

Worm-eating Warbler

Voting ended onJun 8, 2024

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)

[herpsandbirds]

Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum), family Parulidae, order Passeriformes, Mammoth Cave National Park, KY, USA

photographs by Greg Lavaty

[herpsandbirds]

Worm-eating Warblers (Helmitheros vermivorum), family Parulidae, Gulf Coastal area of Texas, USA

photographs by Greg Lavaty

[proton-wobbler]

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.

[dendroica]

Bird of the Week, June 28, 2013, Worm-eating Warbler

An insect-like trill sounds repeatedly as you hike along the foot of a steep forested slope. But it’s no insect sounding off. If you wait patiently and quietly, you may see the singer: a handsome, buff-colored little warbler with a striking head pattern of alternating black and buff.

Contrary to its name, the Worm-eating Warbler doesn’t eat earthworms, but it does eat worm-like caterpillars, along with many other insects and spiders. Its most characteristic foraging behavior is “dead-leafing”—investigating and prying apart clumps of dead leaves hung up in branches and vines in search of the prey hiding there. They also glean among green leaves and the bark of trees and shrubs, like many other warbler species.

Forest fragmentation is the greatest threat facing the Worm-eating Warbler, both on its breeding grounds, where habitat loss exposes this ground-nesting species to nest predation and cowbird parasitism, and on its wintering grounds, where deforestation continues to reduce this bird’s wintering habitat.

You can help the Worm-eating Warbler by joining our ongoing Spring 2013 Fundraising Challenge. We urgently need your support to conserve eastern deciduous forests and other critical bird habitats!