American Yellow Warbler © sott.net

Vagrant to Denmark, Greenland, Portugal, United Kingdom.

Unknown to Honduras.

Taxonomy complex, and numerous subspecies described. Has hybridized with (probably) Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens) and Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea). Subspecies fall into three main groups: "aestiva group" of migratory northern subspecies occupying variety of damp habitats (rubiginosa, banksi, parkesi, amnicola, aestiva, morcomi, brewsteri, sonorana, dugesi); "petechia group" of sedentary, largely mangrove-dwelling taxa (rufivertex, armouri, flavida, gundlachi, flaviceps, eoa, albicollis, chlora, solaris, bartholemica, melanoptera, ruficapilla, babad, nominate, alsiosa, rufopileata, obscura, aurifrons); and sedentary, mainly south, again mangrove-dwelling "erithachorides group" (castaneiceps, rhizophorae, phillipsi, xanthotera, aithocorys, iguanae, aequatorialis, jubaris, peruviana, aureola, oraria, bryanti, erithachorides, chrysendeta, paraguanae, cienagae). The two last-mentioned groups are often regarded as collectively forming a separate species, distinct from northern group, on account of sedentary nature and restricted coastal habitat. Further, these two groups have sometimes been treated as representing two separate species, but the subspecies of "erithachorides group" on coast of north-western Venezuela have head pattern approaching that of adjoining subspecies of "petechia group"; these anomalies do not occur near any potential zone of contact, and are generally thought to be result of independent evolution of an "erithachorides-type" head pattern within "petechia group" and vice versa.

Chestnut-headed Martinique subspecies ruficapilla, usually included in "petechia group", is more similar to members of "erithachorides group" than to "petechia group" (which surrounds it geographically); this has led several recent authors to place ruficapilla within the "erithachorides group". In recent DNA study, isolated Galapagos population (aureola) found to be genetically distinct from both Latin American and North American populations, with mean sequence divergence of 3-7% from former and 6-7% from latter. Further research is required. Subspecies often intergrade, and some poorly differentiated; review perhaps needed. Distributional limits of northern subspecies not always clear. Listed breeding ranges are only approximate.

Further proposed subspecies are inedita, described from extreme north-eastern Mexico (Matamoros, in extreme north-eastern Tamaulipas), subsumed in aestiva; hypochlora (from Arizona), synonymized with sonorana; and cruciana, described from Virgin Is (St Croix), treated as synonym of bartholemica.

The following 44 subspecies are recognised:

• parkesi (Linnaeus, 1766)   -  Breeds northern Alaska and northern Canada (east to northern Manitoba). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Northern Yellow Warbler (Setophaga aestiva).
• banksi Browning, 1994   -  Breeds central Alaska. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Northern Yellow Warbler (Setophaga aestiva).
• rubiginosa (Pallas, 1811)   -  Breeds coastal southern Alaska south through British Columbia (including Vancouver I). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Northern Yellow Warbler (Setophaga aestiva).
• brewsteri Grinnell, 1903   -  Breeds western USA (coastal Washington, Oregon, California) and extreme north-western Mexico (extreme north-western Baja California). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Northern Yellow Warbler (Setophaga aestiva).
• amnicola Batchelder, 1918   -  Breeds across central Canada (north-western British Columbia east to Newfoundland and New Brunswick). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Northern Yellow Warbler (Setophaga aestiva).
• morcomi Coale, 1887   -  Breeds south-western Canada (southern Yukon and interior British Columbia) southern in western USA to north-eastern California and northern Texas. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Northern Yellow Warbler (Setophaga aestiva).
• aestiva (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)   -  Breeds east of Rockies in southern Canada (southern Alberta east to Nova Scotia) and southern in USA to Oklahoma and North Carolina. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Northern Yellow Warbler (Setophaga aestiva).
• sonorana Brewster, 1888   -  Breeds southern Arizona, south-western New Mexico and western Mexico (extreme north-eastern Baja California south through interior to Nayarit and Zacatecas). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Northern Yellow Warbler (Setophaga aestiva).
• dugesi Coale, 1887   -  Breeds central plateau of Mexico from San Luis Potosí. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Northern Yellow Warbler (Setophaga aestiva).
• rufivertex (Ridgway, 1885)   -  Cozumel I (off Quintana Roo), in south-eastern Mexico.
• flaviceps (Chapman, 1892)   -  Bahama Is.
• gundlachi (Baird, SF, 1865)   -  Extreme south-eastern USA (Florida Keys), Cuba and I of Pines.
• eoa (Gosse, 1847)   -  Cayman Is and Jamaica.
• albicollis (Gmelin, JF, 1789)   -  Hispaniola, including I de la Tortue and I à Vache.
• solaris (Wetmore, 1929)   -  Gonave and Petite Gonave, off western Hispaniola.
• chlora (Browning, 1994)   -  Cayos Siete Hermanos (Seven Brothers Keys), off northern Hispaniola.
• bartholemica (Sundevall, 1869)   -  Puerto Rico, Virgin Is, and northern Lesser Antilles (Anguilla south to Montserrat and Antigua).
• melanoptera (Lawrence, 1879)   -  Central Lesser Antilles (Guadeloupe south to Dominica).
• ruficapilla (Gmelin, JF, 1789)   -  Martinique (south-central Lesser Antilles).
• babad (Bond, J, 1927)   -  St Lucia (south-central Lesser Antilles).
• alsiosa (Peters, JL, 1926)   -  Grenadine Is (southern Lesser Antilles).
• petechia (Linnaeus, 1766)   -  Barbados.
• armouri (Greenway, 1933)   -  Old Providence I (I de Providencia), east of Nicaragua, in south-western Caribbean.
• flavida (Cory, 1887)   -  I de San Andrés (St Andrew I), east of Nicaragua, in south-western Caribbean.
• rufopileata (Ridgway, 1884)   -  Aruba, Netherlands Antilles (Curaçao, Bonaire), Blanquilla I, Margarita I and Los Testigos Is, off northern Venezuela.
• obscura (Cory, 1909)   -  Islands of Las Aves, Los Roques and La Orchila, off northern Venezuela.
• aurifrons (Phelps & Phelps Jr, 1950)   -  Coastal north-eastern Venezuela (Anzoátegui and western Sucre) and offshore islands (including La Tortuga, Las Tortuguillas and de Pirí.
• castaneiceps (Ridgway, 1885)   -  North-western Mexico (both coasts of Baja California south of 27° north).
• rhizophorae (van Rossem, 1935)   -  Pacific coast of Mexico in Sonora and Sinaloa.
• phillipsi (Browning, 1994)   -  Coast from Sinaloa (Mexico) south to Honduras.
• xanthotera (Todd, 1924)   -  Pacific coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
• aithocorys (Olson, 1980)   -  Pacific coast of Panama from Chiriquí.
• iguanae (Olson, 1980)   -  Iguana I, off Los Santos (southern Panama).
• aequatorialis (Sundevall, 1869)   -  Pacific coast of Panama (Panamá Province) and Pearl Is.
• jubaris (Olson, 1980)   -  Pacific coast from south-eastern Panama (southern Darién) south to central-western Colombia (Buenaventura).
• peruviana (Sundevall, 1869)   -  Pacific coast from south-western Colombia (Nariño) south to north-western Peru.
• aureola (Gould, 1839)   -  I de Coco and Galapagos Is.
• oraria (Parkes & Dickerman, 1967)   -  Caribbean coast of Mexico in southern Tamaulipas.
• bryanti (Ridgway, 1873)   -  Caribbean coast from south-eastern Mexico (Campeche) south to southern Nicaragua.
• erithachorides (Baird, SF, 1858)   -  Caribbean coast from Costa Rica south to northern Colombia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Mangrove Warbler (Dendroica erithachorides).
• chrysendeta (Wetmore, 1946)   -  Guajira Peninsula (north-eastern Colombia and adjacent north-western Venezuela).
• paraguanae (Phelps & Gilliard, 1941)   -  Paraguaná Peninsula (Falcón), in north-western Venezuela.
• cienagae (Zimmer, JT & Phelps, 1944)   -  Caribbean coast in Carabobo and Aragua and islands off Falcón, in north-western Venezuela.
• cruciana (Sundevall, 1870)   -  Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.

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