Warbler Showdown!
All members of the New World Warbler family, Parulidae, fight for their chance to be called Top Warbler*! This will be a big mess of rounds and brackets, broken up by genus mostly. There's also an extra bracket of "used-to-be warblers"- any species which used to be included in Parulidae before various studies determined their place outside of this family group. (*of the Americas)
A summary of the brackets below and fully listed out at: Round 1
Brackets 1 & 2: Setophaga
Coming in at a whopping 36 species (depending on who you ask), Setophaga has been broken up over two brackets to help deal with the amount. For the special case of Yellow-rumped Warbler, it will be split into three subspecies, rather than being represented as a single, confusingly diverse species. These warblers are typically the most well-known in the states, especially during spring migration.
Bracket 3: Myiothlypis
The first group of a split South American genus. There are more species in this genus (seventeen total), which is why it comes first.
Bracket 4: Basileuterus
The second of the South American split- with only twelve species compared to the eighteen above.
Bracket 5: Geothlypis
The yellowthroats! All members of this species have bright yellow throats and underbodies, and are often associated with marshy, reed-y ponds.
Bracket 6: Myioborus
The redstarts! Well, the American redstarts. The genus name actually means 'whitestart', and sometimes these species are referred to as such, but for my sources they all follow the 'redstart' name.
Bracket 7: Leiothlypis & Cardellina
Our first combo bracket. Leiothlypis are generally more dull than the Cardellina, so they'll be fighting within their own genus at first before being mix-matched to fight each other in the second round.
Bracket 8: Vermivora, Parkesia, & Oreothlypis
Three genuses, each with two extant species. The Bachman's Warbler, recently declared extinct, will still be included this bracket, though, so Vermivora will be represented by three species.
Bracket 9: Odd Ones Out
There are eight warblers who stand alone, each in their own genus. This is probably the most diverse bracket, then, with a variety of habitats and ranges represented within.
Bracket 10: "Y'all don't even go here!"/Not-"Warblers"
At one point or another, each of these ten birds was considered a part of the Parulidae family. They now span six families, with some birds being the sole member of their new family. Changing taxonomy is familiar amongst birders, and including these not-quite warblers pays homage to that.
The tentative schedule is one bracket per week, starting in early November. My queue will likely be filled with warblers before that, though :)
Edit: forgot to mention, but Birds of the World will be my info source throughout the poll, but as it is behind a paywall it will not be linked to each post. It functions as a sort of encyclopedia for all birds and is managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with its own citations of scientific papers when applicable. I personally dont recommend it for casual enjoyers, but it has been really good for gathering concrete information to share with y'all via this page.
