Virginia's Warbler

About the Virginia's Warbler

Virginia's warbler (Leiothlypis virginiae) is a species of New World warbler. Despite what its name may suggest, Virginia's warbler is not actually named after the American State of Virginia, which makes sense as the birds' typical range only reaches as far east as the state of Texas. The bird's common eastern range is central and southern mountains of Colorado, central Wyoming, and central and western New Mexico. The bird was named for Virginia Anderson, the wife of an army surgeon who discovered the bird at Fort Burgwin, New Mexico, in 1858. When Spencer Fullerton Baird of the Smithsonian Institution fully described the bird for science in 1860 he honored the wishes of the warbler's discoverer and designated Virginia to be both the bird's common and scientific name.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name

Leiothlypis virginiae

Family

New World Warblers

Order

Passeriformes

Similar species

Other members of the new world warblers family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

• Altamira Yellowthroat Geothlypis flavovelata
• American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla
• Bachman's Warbler Vermivora bachmanii
• Bay-breasted Warbler Setophaga castanea
• Belding's Yellowthroat Geothlypis beldingi
• Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia
• Black-polled Yellowthroat Geothlypis speciosa
• Black-throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens
• Black-throated Gray Warbler Setophaga nigrescens
• Black-throated Green Warbler Setophaga virens
• Blackburnian Warbler Setophaga fusca
• Blackpoll Warbler Setophaga striata