OW Buntings; NW Sparrows, Blackbirds and Warblers
The first gallery shows photos of Old World buntings (Emberizidae) and from the New World: American Sparrows (Arremonidae), Blackbirds (Icteridae) and Warblers (Parulidae), see Taxonomy note below. I photographed them in forest and garden habitats. Both sparrows and buntings are seed eaters. Blackbirds generally feed on small animals, seeds, nectar, and fruit but not exclusively on all of them. NW warblers, also known as wood-warblers, are arboreal insectivorous feeders.
OW Buntings; NW Sparrows, Blackbirds and Warblers
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Blackbird and Warblers Notes
All the species shown in the gallery are ‘Red List 2019’ assessed as ‘Least Concern’. New World blackbirds exhibit size and some plumage dimorphism with females being smaller and duller in plumage than males. The Yellow-hooded Blackbird has more extreme plumage dimorphism, making it easy to identify the males from females.
Yellow Warblers occur throughout the Americas. There are 43 recognised subspecies, the Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia aureola) being one of them. The Galapagos subspecies also occurs on Cocos Islands and may be considered a near-endemic subspecies or even a separate species.
Blackbird Behaviour
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NW Blackbird Behaviour Notes
The gallery contains photos of the Crested Oropendola feeding and its nests.
OW Buntings; NW Sparrows, Blackbirds and Warblers Taxonomy
The figure showing a simplified family tree depicts the taxonomy relevant to Buntings, Sparrows, Blackbirds and Warblers photo album.
Core Passeroidea contains the Passerid Clade, J Boyd’s Taxonomy in Flux Checklist refers. The featured families belong to Icteroidae epifamily, which includes the following Nine-primaried Oscines:
(a) Old World Buntings and Sparrows group comprises Emberizidae (Old World Buntings) and Arremonidae (American Sparrows),
(b) Blackbird and Warbler group contains New World Blackbirds (Icteridae) and New World Warblers (Parulidae).
Note: Epifamily is a rarely used taxonomic rank between family and superfamily.
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