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Bird name:

Northern Parula

Parula americana

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

Code 4

NOPA

Code 6

PARAME

ITIS

178868

Breeding Location:

Forests, coniferous, Forest edge, Marshes, freshwater, Swamps

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

White with brown flecks and splotches

Number of Eggs:

3 - 7

Incubation Days:

12 - 14

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Lined with fine grasses, moss, and plant down.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Northern Parula: Small, compact warbler with blue-gray upperparts and bronze-green back patch. Throat and breast are yellow, breast band is chestnut-brown and black, and belly is white. White eye-ring is broken. Wings are blue-gray with two white bars. Tail is noticeably short. Female lacks breast band. Juvenile resembles female but has olive-green upperparts.

Range and Habitat

Northern Parula: Breeds from southeastern Canada to the Gulf coast and winters from southern Florida southward into the tropics. Preferred breeding habitat includes wet, chiefly coniferous woods, in swamps, and along lakes and ponds. More widespread during migration.

Breeding and Nesting

Northern Parula: Three to seven white eggs with brown flecks and splotches are laid in a basket-shaped nest woven from grass, bark, and vegetable fibers, and neatly hidden in Spanish moss in the south or in beard moss or Usnea lichens in the north. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Northern Parula: Feeds on spiders, caterpillars, beetles, moths, ants, wasps, bees, flies, locusts, scale insects, plant lice, lacewings, and mayflies. Commonly gleans tips of foliage, small twigs, and branches high in the canopy; occasionally hovers or hangs upside-down on foliage, and sallies for aerial insects.

Readily Eats

Sugar Water, Fruit, Nut Pieces

Vocalization

Northern Parula: Song is a simple, rising, buzzing trill ending in a short, separate note. A less frequent and more complex song consists of a slower series of buzzing notes. Call is a clear, sweet "chip" and downward "tseep."

Similar Species

Northern Parula: Yellowthroats and Mourning warblers lack wing-bars. Tropical Parula lacks black on breast band and has blacker face; female and juvenile lack broken eye-rings and have more yellow on underparts.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America