Bluebird catcher

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Bluebird catcher
Blue gnat catcher (Polioptila caerulea)

Blue gnat catcher ( Polioptila caerulea )

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Superfamily : Certhioidea
Family : Mosquito catcher (Polioptilidae)
Genre : Polioptila
Type : Bluebird catcher
Scientific name
Polioptila caerulea
( Linnaeus , 1766)

The blue gnat catcher ( Polioptila caerulea ) is a North American songbird belonging to the mosquito catcher family.

features

The plumage of the 12 cm long blue gnat catcher is colored blue-gray on the top and white on the underside. It has a long, slender beak, white circles under the eyes, and a long black tail with white outside flags. The male is paler than the female and has a black over-eye stripe in summer.

Occurrence

The bird lives in large parts of North America from southern Canada to Mexico and Cuba ; in the east it inhabits deciduous forests, in the west juniper-rich regions. The northern populations migrate to the southern United States and Central America for winter.

behavior

The blue gnat catcher is an active and noisy bird. He looks for insects and their eggs as well as spiders between the foliage. It picks them from leaves or twigs, wiggling its tail constantly.

Reproduction

From April to the beginning of June the blue gnat catcher builds a small, bowl-shaped nest made of grass, lichen and cobwebs on a horizontal branch. Males and females alternately incubate four to five eggs for two weeks. The nestling period lasts twelve days. Sometimes the bird will breed twice in a breeding season. Eggs are often pushed under the bird by the brown-headed cowbird.

Subspecies

There are seven known subspecies:

  • Polioptila caerulea caerulea ( Linnaeus , 1766) - The nominate form occurs in southeastern Canada and the central and eastern parts of the United States .
  • Polioptila caerulea caesiogaster Ridgway , 1887 - This subspecies occurs in the Bahamas .
  • Polioptila caerulea obscura Ridgway , 1883 - This subspecies is common in the western United States to southern Baja California .
  • Polioptila caerulea perplexa Phillips, AR , 1991 - This subspecies is common in eastern central Mexico .
  • Polioptila caerulea deppei van Rossem , 1934 - This subspecies is common in eastern Mexico and Belize .
  • Polioptila caerulea nelsoni Ridgway , 1903 - This subspecies occurs in southern Mexico.
  • Polioptila caerulea cozumelae Griscom , 1926 - This subspecies occurs on Cozumel .

literature

  • Colin Harrison, Alan Greensmith: Birds. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London 1993, 2000, ISBN 3-8310-0785-3 .
  • Bryan Richard: Birds. Parragon, Bath 2006, ISBN 1-4054-5506-3 .
  • Carl von Linné: Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, Cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis . 13th edition. tape 1 . Typis Ioannis Thomae, Vindobona 1766 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed March 23, 2015]).
  • Allan Robert Phillips: The known birds of North and Middle America. Distributions and Variation, Migrations, Changes, Hybrids, etc. Band 2 : Bombycillidae; Sylviidae to Sturnidae; Vireoni . Self-published, Denver 1991, ISBN 0-9617402-0-5 .
  • Robert Ridgway: Catalog of a collection of birds made at various points along the Western Coast of Lower California, north of Cape St. Eugenio by L. Belding . In: Proceedings of the United States National Museum . tape 5 , no. 314 , 1883, pp. 527-550 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed March 23, 2015]).
  • Robert Ridgway: A manual of North American birds . JB Lippincott, Philadelphia 1887 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed March 23, 2015]).
  • Robert Ridgway: Description of new Genera Species and Subspecies of American Birds . In: Proceedings of The Biological Society of Washington . tape 16 , 1903, pp. 105–112 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed March 23, 2015]).
  • Ludlow Griscom: The ornithological results of the Mason-Spinden Expedition to Yucatan. Part 2, Chinchorro Bank and Cozumel Island . In: American Museum Novitates . No. 236 , 1926, pp. 1–13 (English, digitallibrary.amnh.org [PDF; 1.5 MB ; accessed on March 23, 2015]).
  • Adriaan Joseph van Rossem: Critical Notes on Middle American Birds . In: Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College . tape 77 , 1934, pp. 387-490 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed March 23, 2015]).

Web links

Commons : Bluebird Catcher ( Polioptila caerulea )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ IOC World Bird List Dapple-throats, sugarbirds, fairy-bluebirds, kinglets, hyliotas, wrens & gnatcatchers
  2. ^ Carl von Linné, p. 337.
  3. ^ Robert Ridgway (1887), p. 569.
  4. ^ Robert Ridgway (1883), p. 535.
  5. ↑ Allan Robert Phillips, p. 32.
  6. ^ Adriaan Joseph van Rossem, p. 402.
  7. ^ Robert Ridgway (1903), p. 109.
  8. ↑ Ludlow Griscom, p. 10.