New World warblers | Parulidae

Amerikaanse zangers | Reinitas

Small, short-billed insect-eaters of the foliage, nine to fifteen centimetres long. They work a crown methodically, picking caterpillars and other insects from the undersides of leaves or taking them in a short sally. With 54 species they are, after the tyrant flycatchers, the largest songbird family in the region. Most are migrants from North America that stay here from autumn to spring or pass through, such as Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Palm Warbler and Cape May Warbler. Their plumage changes strongly with the season, so that a bird in winter plumage often has to be identified on details such as wingbars, tail pattern and undertail coverts. Kirtland's Warbler winters almost entirely in the Bahamas. Many islands also have resident species of their own, such as Arrowhead Warbler of Jamaica, Elfin Woods Warbler of Puerto Rico, St. Lucia Warbler, Plumbeous Warbler of Dominica and Guadeloupe and Whistling Warbler of Saint Vincent. Mangrove Warbler breeds on almost every island.