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Northern Parula

Northern Parula
Scientific Classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family:Parulidae
Genus:Parula
Species: americana
Binomial name
Parula americana

The Northern Parula, Parula americana, is a small New World warbler. It breeds in eastern North America from southern Canada to Florida.

This species is migratory, wintering in the southern Florida, Central America and the West Indies. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

The Northern Parula has mainly gray upperparts, with a greenish back patch and two white wingbars. The breast is yellowish shading into the white belly. The summer male has bluish and rufous breast bands and prominent white eye crescents. Females are duller and lack the breast bands.

The breeding habitat is woodland with growths of Old Man's Beard or Spanish Moss. Northern Parulas nest in trees in clumps of these mosses, laying 3-7 eggs in a scantily-lined cup nest.

These birds feed on insects and spiders. The song is a high buzz, and the call is a soft chip.

Reference

New World Warblers by Curson, Quinn and Beadle, ISBN 0-7136-3932-6