Bachman's Warbler

Taxobox
name = Bachman's Warbler
status = CR
status_system = IUCN3.1


image_caption = Male (above) and female
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Parulidae
genus = "Vermivora"
species = "V. bachmanii"
binomial = "Vermivora bachmanii"
binomial_authority = Audubon, 1833

Bachman's Warbler ("Vermivora bachmanii") was a small passerine bird that inhabited the swamps and lowland forests of the southeast United States. This warbler was a migrant, wintering in Cuba.

An extinct species

Bachman's Warbler is possibly extinct, and was most likely never common. The last confirmed sightings were in 1988 and before that in 1961 in South Carolina. The Bachman's Warbler's last stronghold was in I'on Swamp, South Carolina. Habitat destruction was probably the main cause of its disappearance. Its extinction is not yet officially announced, because habitat remaining in Congaree National Park needs to be surveyed. Furthermore, on January 14, 2002, a bird reminiscent of a female Bachman's Warbler was [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/bachman/mysterywarbler.html filmed] at Guardalavaca, Cuba. As "Vermivora" warblers are not known to live more than about 7 years, if the identification is correct it would imply that a breeding population managed to survive undiscovered for decades.

This bird was discovered in 1832 by the Reverend John Bachman, who presented study skins and descriptions to his friend and collaborator, John James Audubon. Audubon never saw the bird alive but named it in honor of Bachman.

Audubon's folio renderings of a male and female Bachman's Warbler were painted on top of an illustration of the "Franklinia" tree first painted by Maria Martin, Bachman's sister-in-law and one of the country's first female natural history illustrators.

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is possibly extinct

Further reading

Books

* HAMEL P. B. "Bachman's Warbler". "In" CHANDLER, W. J. (ED.). AUDUBON WILDLIFE REPORT, 1988/1989. XVIII+817P. ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.: SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, USA; LONDON, ENGLAND, UK. ILLUS. MAPS. 1988. 625-635. Series Information: Audubon Wildlife Report.
* Hamel, P. B. 1995. Bachman’s Warbler ("Vermivora bachmanii"). "In" The Birds of North America, No. 150 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.
* HAMEL, P. B. "Bachman's Warbler: a species in peril". XII+109P. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS: WASHINGTON, D.C., USA; LONDON, ENGLAND. ILLUS. PAPER. 1986. XII+109P.

Thesis

* Hamel PB. Ph.D. (1981). "A HIERARCHICAL APPROACH TO AVIAN COMMUNITY STRUCTURE". Clemson University, United States -- South Carolina.

Articles

* Burdick, D. M., Cushman, D., Hamilton, R., and Gosselink, J. G. (1989). "Faunal changes and bottomland hardwood forest loss in the tensas watershed Louisiana usa". Conservation Biology. vol. 3, no 3. p. 282-292.
* Hamel, P. B. (1979). "Bachmans warbler vermivora-bachmanii the decline and fall of an endangered species". American Zoologist. vol. 19, no 3. p. 1003.
* Hamel, P. B. (1995). "Bachman's Warbler Vermivora bachmanii". Birds of North America. vol. 0, no 150. p. 1-16.
* Hamel, P. B., and Gauthreaux, S. A. J. (1982). "The field identification of bachmans warbler vermivora-bachmanii". American Birds. vol. 36, no 3. p. 235-240.
* Hooper, R. G., and Hamel, P. B. (1977). "Nesting habitat of bachmans warbler a review". Wilson Bulletin. vol. 89, no 3. p. 373-379.
* Platt, S. G., Brantley, C. G., and Rainwater, T. R. (2001). "Canebrake fauna: Wildlife diversity in a critically endangered ecosystem". Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society. vol. 117, no 1. p. 1-19.
* Remsen, J. V. J. (1986). "Was bachman's warbler vermivora-bachmanii a bamboo specialist". Auk. vol. 103, no 1. p. 216-219.
* Stevenson, H. M. (1972). "The recent history of bachmans warbler". Wilson Bulletin. vol. 84, no 3. p. 344-347.
* Stevenson, H. M. (1977). "A comparison of the apalachicola river avi fauna above and below jim woodruff dam".
* Walters, Mark Jerome. (1995) "Memories of a warbler". Animals. Boston. Vol 128, no 6. p. 8

External links

* [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=9084&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet.]