Adelaide's warbler (''Setophaga adelaidae'') is a
bird endemic to the
archipelago of
Puerto Rico belonging to the genus ''Setophaga'' of the family Parulidae. The species is named after Adelaide Swift, daughter of Robert Swift, the person who captured the first specimen.
Description
The ''S. adelaidae'' complex was originally considered a single species, with three populations occurring in
Barbuda, Puerto Rico and
St. Lucia. Each of these populations were regarded as a subspecies, ''S.a. subita'', ''S.a. adelaidae'' and ''S.a. delicata'' respectively. These subspecies were later elevated to species rank as the
Barbuda warbler
The Barbuda warbler (''Setophaga subita'') is a species of bird in the family Parulidae. It is Endemism, endemic to the island of Barbuda in Antigua and Barbuda. Its natural habitat is tropical dry shrubland near wetland areas. It is threatened b ...
(''Setophaga subita''), the
St. Lucia warbler (''Setophaga delicata'') and Adelaide's warbler.
In 2011, the American Ornithologists' Union reclassified the Parulidae, which resulted in ''D. adelaidae'' being transferred to genus ''Setophaga.''
Adelaide's warbler has gray upperparts with yellow underparts. The species has a yellow line above the eye and a white half-moon below it. Its average length is and its average weight is .
Adelaide's warbler occurs in the main island of Puerto Rico and in the island municipality of
Vieques. The species occurs mainly in
dry forests in the southern region of Puerto Rico such as the
Guánica State Forest, with some occurrences in the northern
moist forests and the central mountain range,
Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands.
Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges:
* Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America
** ...
.
Adelaide's warbler is an
insectivore
A robber fly eating a hoverfly
An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects.
The first vertebrate insectivores wer ...
which
gleans
Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legall ...
insects from the mid-top areas of the forest. It is also known to eat, although very rarely,
spiders and small
amphibian
Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...
s such as
coquí
Coquí is the common name for several species of small frogs in the genus ''Eleutherodactylus'' native to Puerto Rico. They are onomatopoeically named for the very loud mating call which the males of two species, the common coqui and the upland ...
s. The species usually travels in
mixed flocks which commonly include
Puerto Rican todies,
vireos and other
New World warblers. Adelaide's warblers build nests at heights of 1 to 7 m in which the female deposits anywhere from 2 to 4 white eggs. The eggshells usually have small brown spots.
See also
*
Fauna of Puerto Rico
*
List of birds of Puerto Rico
*
List of endemic fauna of Puerto Rico
*
List of Puerto Rican birds
*
List of Vieques birds
*
El Toro Wilderness
References
Further reading
*
*
Sociedad Ortinológica Puertorriqueña – Reinita Mariposera*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3178553
Adelaide's warbler
Endemic birds of Puerto Rico
Adelaide's warbler
Adelaide's warbler