Gnatcatcher
| Gnatcatchers | |
|---|---|
| |
| California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Superfamily: | Certhioidea |
| Family: | Polioptilidae Baird, 1858 |
| Genera | |
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The gnatcatchers are a family of small
blue-grey gnatcatcher of the United States and southern Canada migrates south in winter. They are close relatives of the wrens.[1]
Description
These dainty birds are intermediate between Old World warblers and wrens in their structure and habits, moving restlessly through foliage seeking insects. The gnatcatchers are mainly soft bluish grey in color, and have the typical insectivore's long sharp bill. Many species have distinctive black head patterns (especially males) and long, regularly cocked, black-and-white tails. The skulking gnatwrens are browner, more thickset, and with proportionally shorter tails and longer bills.[1]
Distribution and habitat
They are distributed from
Neotropical species is essentially unknown.[1]
Taxonomy and systematics
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| Relationships among families in the superfamily Certhioidea.[2] |
A species
Polioptila dumicola
complexes, but at present scientific papers on these matters are lacking.
The family contains 21 species divided into 3 genera:[4]
- Ramphocaenus (2 species) – gnatwrens
- Microbates (2 species) – gnatwrens
- Polioptila (17 species) – gnatcatchers
References
- ^ ISBN 978-84-96553-06-4
- PMID 30936315.
- ^ Whitney, B. & Alonso, A. (2005) A new species of gnatcatcher from the white-sand forests in northern Amazonian Peru with revision of the Polioptila guianensis complex. Wilson Bull. 117(2): 113-210.
- Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Dapple-throats, sugarbirds, fairy-bluebirds, kinglets, Elachura, hyliotas, wrens, gnatcatchers". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
External links
- Gnatcatcher videos on the Internet Bird Collection