Pine warbler

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Pine warbler
Adult male
Female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Parulidae
Genus: Setophaga
Species:
S. pinus
Binomial name
Setophaga pinus
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Range of S. pinus (note: missing range on Hispaniola)
  Breeding range
  Year-round range
  Wintering range
Synonyms
  • Certhia pinus Linnaeus, 1766
  • Dendroica pinus (Linnaeus, 1766)
  • Sylvia pinus Wilson, 1811[2]
  • Dendroica vigorsii (Audubon, 1831)
  • Sylvia pinus (Linnaeus, 1766)
  • Sylvia vigorsii Audubon, 1831

The pine warbler (Setophaga pinus) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family Parulidae. It is a permanent resident in the southeastern United States and also breeds in southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States, where it is migratory. Unlike other wood-warblers, in addition to insects the pine warbler also sometimes consumes seeds.

Taxonomy

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The pine warbler was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Certhia pinus.[3] Linnaeus based his entry on the "pine-creeper" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalists Mark Catesby in 1731 and George Edwards in 1760.[4][5] Edwards had doubts as to whether his specimen was the same species as illustrated by Catesby and included as a footnote "On a stricter examination I think it a species different from Catesby's".[5] Edwards' etching actually depicted a blue-winged warbler so that Linnaeus's name applied to two different species. This led to considerable instability in the nomenclature which was only resolved when in 2009 a new binomial name, Vermivora cyanoptera, was proposed by Storrs L. Olson and James L. Reveal for the blue-winged warbler.[6][7] The type location was restricted to the state of Georgia by the American Ornithologists' Union in 1931.[8] The pine warbler is now one of over 30 species placed in the genus Setophaga that was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827.[9] The genus name Setophaga combines the Ancient Greek σης/sēs, σητος/sētos meaning "moth" with -φαγος/-phagos meaning "-eating".[10]

Four subspecies are recognised:[9]

  • S. p. pinus (Linnaeus, 1766) – breeds southeast Canada and east USA
  • S. p. florida (Maynard, 1906) – south Florida
  • S. p. achrustera (Bangs, 1900) – Bahamas
  • S. p. chrysoleuca (Griscom, 1923) – Hispaniola

Description

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These birds have white bellies, two white wing bars, dark legs and thin, relatively long pointed bills; they have yellowish 'spectacles' around their eyes. Adult males have olive upperparts and bright yellow throats and breasts; females and immatures display upperparts which are olive-brown. Their throats and breasts are paler. The adult male pine warbler looks somewhat similar to the yellow-throated vireo which may cause some identification problems.

Standard Measurements[11][12]
Total Body Length 5–5.75 in (127–146 mm)
Weight 12 g (0.42 oz)
Wingspan 8.75 in (222 mm)
Wing 68.9–72.8 mm (2.71–2.87 in)
Tail 52.9–56 mm (2.08–2.20 in)
Culmen 9.9–11.6 mm (0.39–0.46 in)
Tarsus 17.2–18.7 mm (0.68–0.74 in)

The song of this bird is a musical trill. Their calls are slurred chips.

Distribution and habitat

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Their breeding habitats are open pine woods in eastern North America. These birds are permanent residents in southern Florida. Some of them, however, migrate to northeastern Mexico and islands in Bermuda and the Caribbean. The first record for South America was a vagrant wintering female seen at Vista Nieve, Colombia, on 20 November 2002; this bird was foraging as part of a mixed-species feeding flock that also included wintering Blackburnian and Tennessee warblers.[13]

Behavior

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They forage slowly on tree trunks and branches by poking their bill into pine cones. These birds also find food by searching for it on the ground. These birds mainly eat insects, seeds and berries.

Their nests are deep, open cups, which are placed near the end of a tree branch. Pine warblers prefer to nest in pine trees, hence their names. Three to five blotched white eggs are laid.[11]

References

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  1. ^ BirdLife International. (2021). "Setophaga pinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021 e.T22721719A137255800. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22721719A137255800.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ Wilson, Alexander (1811). American Ornithology; or, the Natural History of the Birds of the United States: Illustrated with Plates Engraved and Colored from Original drawings taken from Nature. Vol. 3. Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep. p. 25, Plate 19 fig. 4.
  3. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae: per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 187.
  4. ^ Catesby, Mark (1729–1732). The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (in English and French). Vol. 1. London: W. Innys and R. Manby. p. 61, plate 61. Published in 11 parts. For the dates see: Overstreet, Leslie K. (2014). "The dates of the parts of Mark Catesby's The Natural History of Carolina ... (London, 1731–1743 [1729–1747])". Archives of Natural History. 41 (2): 362–364. doi:10.3366/anh.2014.0256.
  5. ^ a b Edwards, George (1760). Gleanings of Natural History, exhibiting figures of quadrupeds, birds, insects, plants &c... (in English and French). Vol. 2. London: Printed for the author, at the College of Physicians. p. 139, plate 277.
  6. ^ Olson, S.L.; Reveal, J.L. (2009). "Nomenclatural history and a new name for the Blue-winged Warbler (Aves: Parulidae)". Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 121: 618–620. doi:10.1676/09-003.1. JSTOR 20616949.
  7. ^ Chesser, R Terry; Banks, Richard C; Barker, F Keith; Cicero, Carla; Dunn, Jon L; Kratter, Andrew W; Lovette, Irby J; Rasmussen, Pamela C; Remsen, JV Jr; Rising, James D; Stotz, Douglas F; Winker, Kevin (2010). "Fifty-First Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds". The Auk. 127 (3): 726–744 [736]. doi:10.1525/auk.2010.127.4.966.
  8. ^ Committee on Classification and Nomenclature (1931). Check-list of North American Birds (4th ed.). Lancaster, Pennsylvania: American Ornithologists' Union. p. 291.
  9. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "New World warblers, mitrospingid tanagers". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  10. ^ Jobling, James A. "Setophaga". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  11. ^ a b Godfrey, W. Earl (1966). The Birds of Canada. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. p. 338.
  12. ^ Sibley, David Allen (2000). The Sibley Guide to Birds. New York: Knopf. p. 442. ISBN 0-679-45122-6.
  13. ^ Strewe, Ralf; Navarro, Cristobal (2004). "New and noteworthy records of birds from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region, north-eastern Colombia" (PDF). Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 124 (1): 38–51. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-12-31. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
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Wikispecies has information related to Setophaga pinus.