Virginia’s Warbler, Leiothlypis virginiae

Virginia’s Warbler, Leiothlypis virginiae. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, April 2010. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

Virginia’s Warbler, Leiothlypis virginiae. Photograph taken within a residential community in Alamos, Sonora, April 2018. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F. Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Virginia’s Warbler, Leiothlypis virginiae, is a member of the Parulidae Family of New World Warblers, which has one hundred eleven individual species that have been placed into eighteen genera and one of six global members of the Leiothlypis Genus. They are known n Mexico as reinita de Virginia.

Virginia’s Warbler is small in stature. The males are primarily gray with paler underparts with a prominent, narrow, white eye-ring, a contrasting yellow breast and undertail coverts, a greenish-yellow rump and uppertail covers, and a crown with an extensive rufous patch. The females are similar in appearance to the males but have reduced levels of yellow on the breast and the rufous patch is smaller and paler. Their bill is slender with a narrow base tapering to a sharp point. The bill is a dull gray-black, the cutting edges and mandible have pale edges; their iris is dark brown and their legs and feet are a dull gray-brown with yellow toe pads.

Virginia’s Warblers are typically found in steep-sloped, xeric scrubby habitats with piñon-juniper and oak woodlands at mid-elevations between 1,500 m (4,900 feet) and 2,700 m (8,850 feet). Their diets consist almost exclusively of insects found around flowers, buds and new green leaves that are foraged off the ground or in trees. They are shy, retiring, infrequently encountered, and often overlooked in the field. They have life spans of up to four years. Virginia’s Warbler is poorly studied and very little has been documented about their biology and behavioral patterns.

Virginia’s Warbler is a winter visitor to Mexico and found in abundance in a relatively narrow range primarily within the mountains of southwest Mexico in the states of Jalisco, México, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Morelos, Guerrero, Puebla, and the interior of Oaxaca.

From a conservation perspective Virginia’s Warbler is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely-distributed populations. In some areas their populations have been adversely affected by controlled burns in several areas.