Parulide protonotario

Identificazione

The prothonotary warbler is 13 cm (5.1 in) long, weighs 12.5 g (0.44 oz), and has a wingspan of 22 cm (8.75 in). It has an olive-coloured back with blue-grey wings and tail, yellow underparts, a relatively long pointed bill, and black legs. The adult male has a bright orange-yellow head. Females and immature birds are duller and have a yellow head. In flight from below, the short, wide tail has a distinctive two-toned pattern, white at the base and dark at the tip.

Tassonomia

The prothonotary warbler was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1779 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Louisiana. Buffon coined the French name Le figuier protonotaire. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle, which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Motacilla citrea in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The prothonotary warbler is now the only species placed in the genus Protonotaria that was introduced in 1858 by the American naturalist Spencer Baird. The species is monotypic, no subspecies are recognised.<p>The genus name is from Late Latin protonotarius, meaning "prothonotary", a notary attached to the Byzantine court who wore golden-yellow robes. The specific citrea is from Latin citreus meaning the colour "citrine". It was once known as the golden swamp warbler.<p>A molecular phylogenetic study of the family Parulidae published in 2010 found that the prothonotary warbler was a sister species to Swainson's warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii).

Nome scientifico

Protonotaria citrea

Autorità

(Boddaert, 1783)

Ordine

Passeriformi

Famiglia

Parulidae

Genere

Protonotaria

Areale e habitat

The prothonotary warbler mostly breeds in hardwood swamps in extreme southeastern Ontario and the eastern United States. However, it may nest near other bodies of water such as creeks, streams, ponds, and swimming pools.<p>The habitat of the warblers during migration is not well known. However, they are particularly prominent in Belize during spring migration.<p>The warblers winter in the West Indies, Central America and northern South America, primarily in Mangrove Swamps.<p>It is a rare vagrant to parts of the western United States, most notably California.

Areale riproduttivo

NA : c, e, se USA

Areale non riproduttivo

MA, West Indies and n SA

Migrazione

Complete migrants

Comportamento

The prothonotary warbler is the only eastern warbler that nests in natural or artificial cavities, sometimes using old downy woodpecker holes. The male often builds several incomplete, unused nests in his territory; the female builds the real nest and lays 3–7 eggs.<p>The preferred foraging habitat is dense, woody streams, where the prothonotary warbler forages actively in low foliage, mainly for insects and snails.<p>The song of this bird is a simple, loud, ringing sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet. The call is a loud, dry chip, like that of a hooded warbler. Its flight call is a loud seeep.

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione

declining