Overview

Arctic Warbler: Medium-sized, active warbler with stout bill, olive-green back, olive-brown sides, and white throat and belly. Dark eye-lines contrast with pale yellow eyebrows curving upward behind eyes. Wings have faint pale bar on tips of greater coverts. Tail is square. Pale yellow legs, feet.

Arctic Warbler: Occurs in Fennoscandia and northern Asia, and is also established in North America, where they breed in Alaska. They migrate to Southeast Asia for the winter, having the longest migration route of any Old World insectivorous bird. Preferred habitats include birch woods, willow thickets, mixed coniferous-deciduous open forests, and grassy tundra.

Voice Text

" zick-zick-zick", "dzik"

• The Arctic Warbler was first described in 1858 by Johann Heinrich Blasius, a German zoologist.
• The male will defend his territory through song and wing twitching displays.
• One was observed evading a falcon by landing near people.
• A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

• Dusky Warbler
• Middendorff's Grasshopper-Warbler

Leaf Warblers (Phylloscopidae)

ORDER

The one hundred eighteen families in the taxonomic order PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez) include a variety of small perching birds such as the kinglets as well as large birds such as the crows and jays.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

In the Phylloscopidae (pronounced fil-uh-SKOH-puhs-uh-dee) family, there are sixty-nine species that occur throughout the Old World.

NORTH AMERICA

In North America, six species of the Phylloscopidae family have occurred. One of these species, the Arctic Warbler, breeds in Alaska and is the only Leaf Warbler that breeds in the New World.

KNOWN FOR

Leaf Warblers are active and always in motion. They flick their wings constantly as they move through the trees searching for insects.

PHYSICAL

Members of the Phylloscopidae are small birds with fairly long legs, and strong feet that suit their arboreal nature. They have thin, short bills.

COLORATION

The Phylloscopidae are mostly dull colored birds that have brown to green upperparts and off-white to yellowish underparts.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

The Phylloscopidae occur in forests and scrub across Eurasia, Africa, India, and Asia.

MIGRATION

Many species are long distance migrants.

HABITS

Members of the Phylloscopidae forage for invertebrates by gleaning them from the vegetation of trees and bushes. They often flick their wings as they forage.

CONSERVATION

In some areas, Leaf Warblers are listed as threatened because of destruction or loss of its habitat.

INTERESTING FACTS

Leaf Warblers were included in the Old World Warbler family until 2006.

Author

Artist

Michael Oberhofer