| Tropical parula | |
|---|---|
 | |
| InBrazil. | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Parulidae |
| Genus: | Setophaga |
| Species: | S. pitiayumi |
| Binomial name | |
| Setophaga pitiayumi (Vieillot, 1817) | |
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| Range ofS. pitiayumi Breeding range Year-round range | |
| Synonyms | |
Setophaga americana pitiayumi | |
Thetropical parula (Setophaga pitiayumi) is a smallNew World warbler. It breeds from southernmostTexas and northwestMexico (Sonora) south throughCentral America to northernArgentina, includingTrinidad and Tobago. This widespread and common species is not considered threatened by theIUCN.[1]
Thispasserine is notmigratory, but northern birds may make local movements. For example, although it does not breed in much ofPacific Central America, it is a regular migrant to countries likeEl Salvador.[2]
It is 4.3 in (11 cm) long and has mainly blue-grey upperparts, with a greenish back patch and two white wing bars. 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 males and lack black on the head. The immature tropical parula is dull-plumaged, lacks the wing bars, and has a grey band on the breast.
The song is a high buzzy trill, and the call is a sharptsit.
The tropical parula has about 14subspecies, with a wide range of plumage tones.S. p. graysoni, isendemic toSocorro in theRevillagigedo Islands.[3] Some subspecies (especially insular ones) are occasionally considered separate species.
Setophaga pitiayumi has occasionally been lumped with the closely relatednorthern parula (S. americana) as a single species. Hybrids are routinely found in theRio Grande Valley of southern Texas, though this may be a recent phenomenon. Most tropical parulas can be distinguished from the northern parula by their lack of white-eye crescents, but this may be ambiguous in hybrids. One should also look for the distribution and extent of non-yellow coloration on the breast, and the extent of yellow below the cheek and on the belly.
In addition, a partiallyleucistic tropical parula female was seen in 2005, atReserva Buenaventura inEl Oro Province,Ecuador.[4] With several small white areas on the forehead and around the eyes, this bird appeared much like a hybrid, but such birds would only occur as far south asPanama (if they would migrate like the northern parula).
The tropical parula is a species mainly of hills andpremontane forests and does not occur in the Amazon basin. It seems to prefer moderately disturbed andsecondary forests and seems to cope well withhabitat fragmentation. On the eastern slope of theAndes for example it is regularly found at about 3,300–4,300 ft (1,000–1,300 m). There, its habitat is a patchy mix containingprimary forest (e.g. highIriartea deltoideapalm woods), wet premontane secondary forest dominated e.g. byElaeagia (Rubiaceae), and with abundantepiphytes andhemiepiphytes such asClusiaceae, former clearings overgrown with shrubs, and fresh forest edges.[5]
S. p. graysoni mostly keeps to low woody vegetation, typicallyCroton masonii shrubs, a few feet (some 1–1.5 meters) above ground; they are more terrestrial than other subspecies of the tropical parula and often can be seen hopping on the ground – though probably less so whereferal cats are abundant.[3]
These birds feed oninsects,spiders, and occasionally berries. They may be seen to attendmixed-species feeding flocks, in some locations (e.g. in theSerra de Paranapiacaba) commonly, but often just coincidentally.[6][7]
The tropical parula nests in clumps of epiphytes (especiallySpanish moss,Tillandsia usneoides) in a tree, laying usually two eggs in a scantily lined domed nest. Incubation is 12–14 days, mainly by the female. OnSocorro Island, the breeding season is probably in the summer months, and by November, the young appear to havefledged.[3]
