Peucedramidae
The Key to Scientific Names
Legend Overview
Peucedramidae Olive Warbler
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
- Year-round
- Breeding
- Non-breeding
Introduction
The Olive Warbler Peucedramus taeniatus is interesting in several ways, the first being that its plumage is dominated by colors that are anything but olive, which is restricted to a small patch on the wing feathers and nape. Long lumped in with New World warblers, it is now the sole representative of its family, the only family even close to endemic to North America. Bedecked with a tawny-orange hood and snappy black mask, the male of this species holds forth from pine groves in the mountains of the southwestern United States and Mexico. Its breeding habits are not well known, as this bird is most often seen feeding in mixed-species flocks in the non-breeding season.
Habitat
The Olive Warbler lives in mature montane pine and pine-oak forests from southern Arizona and New Mexico south to northern Nicaragua.
Diet and Foraging
Olive Warblers are apparently entirely insectivorous, feeding on a variety of insects and other arthropods.
Breeding
There is little information on the breeding habits of the Olive Warbler; however, it appears to be monogamous with biparental care. The nest of these birds is a small cup, built of small rootlets, moss, lichen, plant down, and spiderwebs, which they construct in a dense clump of pine needles near the edge of the canopy. Olive Warbler females lay 3 or 4 eggs. Only the female incubates and broods the chicks, while the male feeds her. Both male and female feed the chicks, but there is apparently no information on the rate of embryo and chick development.
Conservation Status
The Olive Warbler faces no immediate conservation concerns.
Systematics History
The Olive Warbler is the sole member of Peucedramidae. Although it was long thought to be part of Parulidae on the basis of morphology and geography—and sometimes even included in what was then the large parulid genus Dendroica—molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed that the Olive Warbler is instead the sole representative of an old lineage that roots deeply within the large superfamily Passeroidea. The precise placement of Peucedramidae within the early passeroid radiation remains uncertain (Yuri & Mindell 2002), but the best evidence available suggests that it is sister to Prunellidae (Ericson & Johansson 2003).
Conservation Status
Least Concern |
100%
|
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Near Threatened |
0%
|
Vulnerable |
0%
|
Endangered |
0%
|
Critically Endangered |
0%
|
Extinct in the Wild |
0%
|
Extinct |
0%
|
Not Evaluated |
0%
|
Data Deficient |
0%
|
Unknown |
0%
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Data provided by IUCN (2024) Red List. More information