Virginia's warbler (''Leiothlypis virginiae'') is a species of New World warbler. Despite what its name may suggest, Virginia's warbler is not actually named after the American State of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, which makes sense as the birds' typical range only reaches as far east as the state of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. The bird's common eastern range is central and southern mountains of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, central

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, and central and western

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. The bird was named for Virginia Anderson, the wife of an army surgeon who discovered the bird at Fort Burgwin,

, in 1858. When

Spencer Fullerton Baird Spencer Fullerton Baird (; February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, Herpetology, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He ...

of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

fully described the bird for science in 1860 he honored the wishes of the warbler's discoverer and designated Virginia to be both the bird's common and scientific name.

Description

Virginia's warbler is a small bird, only in length. It is mainly gray in color, with a lighter colored under-belly and a white eye ring. The rump and undertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

are yellow. They also have a yellow patch on their breast and a partially hidden dark reddish crest. Females are slightly duller, with less yellow on breast. Virginia's warbler can be easily mistaken for the rare Colima warbler, but it is smaller, has a more yellow rump, and is more widespread. Colima Warbler also lacks yellow breast patch.

Life history

Virginia's warbler is common in dense oak and pinyon woodlands and brushy streamside hills at altitudes ranging from . It summers in the south-western United States and will

migrate Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

as far south as

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

during the winter, as well as stopping in several Caribbean islands such as the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, and the

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and no ...

. Nests are built on the ground, hidden amongst dead leaves and tufts of grass at the base of a shrub or young tree. The nest is cup-shaped and constructed from moss, grass, strips of bark, and roots. The female will lay between three and five eggs, which are white in color and dotted with fine brown speckles. Young are attended to by both sexes, but incubation period and other nesting habits are mostly unknown.

References

''Vermivora virginiae''
ITIS Report

* Berry ME & Bock CE. (1998). ''Effects of habitat and landscape characteristics on avian breeding distributions in Colorado foothills shrub''. Southwestern Naturalist. vol 43, no 4. p. 453–461. * Howard P. (1999). ''Virginia's Warbler at Kennesaw Mountain, Cobb County, Georgia''. Oriole. vol 64, no 1–2. p. 5–6. * Martin PR & Martin TE. (2001). ''Behavioral interactions between coexisting species: Song playback experiments with wood warblers''. Ecology. vol 82, no 1. p. 207–218. * Martin PR & Martin TE. (2001). ''Ecological and fitness consequences of species coexistence: A removal experiment with wood warblers''. Ecology. vol 82, no 1. p. 189–206. * Sedgwick JA. (1987). ''Avian Habitat Relationships in Pinyon-Juniper Woodland''. Wilson Bulletin. vol 99, no 3. p. 413–431. * Swanson DL, Palmer JS, Liknes ET & Dean KL. (2000). ''A breeding population of Virginia's warblers in the southwestern Black Hills of South Dakota''. Southwestern Naturalist. vol 45, no 1. p. 39–44. * Voelker, Gary and Sara L McFarland. (2002) ''Molt patterns and molting grounds of Lucy's and Virginia's Warblers: Similar yet different''. The Wilson Bulletin. Vol 114, no 2. p. 255 (9 pages).

External links

VIREO * ttp://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Vermivora+virginiae ''Vermivora virginiae'' Discover Life * ttp://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/477/articles/introduction ''Vermivora virginiae'' Birds of North America
''Vermivora virginiae''
Audubon
''Vermivora virginiae''
Audubon {{Taxonbar, from=Q25114987 Leiothlypis Native birds of the Southwestern United States Birds of the Great Basin Virginia's warbler Virginia's warbler

Description

Life history

References

Further reading

Books

Thesis

Articles

External links