Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the cisticolas into Cisticolidae and the kinglets into Regulidae. In the past ten years they have been the subject of much research and many species are now placed into other families, including the Acrocephalidae, Cettiidae, Phylloscopidae, and Megaluridae. In addition some species have been moved into existing families or have not yet had their placement fully resolved. A smaller number of warblers, together with some babblers formerly placed in the family Timaliidae and the parrotbills, are retained in a much smaller family Sylviidae.
The typical warblers are small birds belonging to the genus Sylvia in the "Old World warbler" family Sylviidae.
The Old World babblers or Timaliidae are a family of mostly Old World passerine birds. They are rather diverse in size and coloration, but are characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The timaliids are one of two unrelated groups of birds known as babblers, the other being the Australasian babblers of the family Pomatostomidae.
The parrotbills are a family, Paradoxornithidae, of passerine birds that are primarily native to East, Southeast and South Asia, with a single species in western North America, though feral populations exist elsewhere. They are generally small birds that inhabit reedbeds, forests and similar habitats. The traditional parrotbills feed mainly on seeds, e.g. of grasses, to which their robust bill, as the name implies, is well-adapted. Members of the family are usually non-migratory.
The white-eyes are a family, Zosteropidae, of small passerine birds native to tropical, subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia, and Australasia. White-eyes inhabit most tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, the western Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Guinea. Discounting some widespread members of the genus Zosterops, most species are endemic to single islands or archipelagos. The silvereye, Zosterops lateralis, naturally colonised New Zealand, where it is known as the "wax-eye" or tauhou ("stranger"), from 1855. The silvereye has also been introduced to the Society Islands in French Polynesia, while the Japanese white-eye has been introduced to Hawaii.
The Dartford warbler is a typical warbler from the warmer parts of western Europe and northwestern Africa. It is a small warbler with a long thin tail and a thin pointed bill. The adult male has grey-brown upperparts and is dull reddish-brown below except for the centre of the belly which has a dirty white patch. It has light speckles on the throat and a red eye-ring. The sexes are similar but the adult female is usually less grey above and paler below.
The wrentit is a small bird that lives in chaparral, oak woodlands, and bushland on the western coast of North America. It is the only species in the genus Chamaea.
The black-breasted parrotbill is a 19 cm long, large, thick-billed parrotbill with black patches on the head-sides and throat. Formerly placed with the typical warblers in the Sylviidae, the parrotbills are now considered a distinct family, the Paradoxornithidae.
The yellow-throated fulvetta is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. Its common name is misleading, because it is not a close relative of the "typical" fulvettas, which are now in the family Paradoxornithidae.
The brown-throated fulvetta or Ludlow's fulvetta is a species of bird in the family Paradoxornithidae. Like the other typical fulvettas, it was long included in the Timaliidae genus Alcippe or in the Sylviidae. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, and Nepal.
The black-throated parrotbill is a parrotbill species often placed with the Old World babblers or in a distinct family Sylviidae, but it actually seems to belong to the distinct family Paradoxornithidae.
The vinous-throated parrotbill is a species of parrotbill in the family Paradoxornithidae; formerly, it was placed in the closely related Sylviidae or Timaliidae. It is found in China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
The Beijing babbler, also known as the white-browed Chinese warbler, Chinese hill warbler, or Chinese bush-dweller, is a species of bird in the genus Rhopophilus. It is now thought to be a close relative of the parrotbills and is placed in the family Paradoxornithidae; previously, it was placed in the families Cisticolidae, Timaliidae or Sylviidae. It is found in northern China and North Korea, and formerly occurred in South Korea. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1868.
Sylvioidea is a superfamily of passerine birds, one of at least three major clades within the Passerida along with the Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea. It contains about 1300 species including the Old World warblers, Old World babblers, swallows, larks and bulbuls. Members of the clade are found worldwide, but fewer species are present in the Americas.
Alcippe is a genus of passerine birds in the monotypic family Alcippeidae. The genus once included many other fulvettas and was previously placed in families Pellorneidae or Timaliidae.
Fulvetta is a genus of passerine birds. Originally proposed in 1877, it was recently reestablished for the typical fulvettas, which were long included with their presumed relatives in the Timaliidae genus Alcippe. But they are actually quite closely related to the parrotbills, and are thus now placed in the family Paradoxornithidae.
The Manipur fulvetta or streak-throated fulvetta is a bird species in the family Paradoxornithidae. It is named for the state of Manipur in Northeast India. Like the other typical fulvettas, it was long included in the Timaliidae genus Alcippe or in the Sylviidae. In addition, it was long included in F. cinereiceps as a subspecies, and the common name "streak-throated fulvetta" was applied to all these birds. The typical F. cinereiceps are now called grey-hooded fulvetta.
The white-breasted parrotbill is a bird species often placed with the Old World babblers or in a distinct family Paradoxornithidae, but it actually seems to belong to the Sylviidae.
The black-headed parrotbill is a bird species often placed with the Old World babblers or in the Sylviidae, but it actually seems to belong to the distinct family Paradoxornithidae.
The jungle babblers are a family, Pellorneidae, of mostly Old World passerine birds belonging to the superfamily Sylvioidea. They are quite diverse in size and coloration, and usually characterised by soft, fluffy plumage and a tail on average the length of their body, or longer. These birds are found in tropical zones, with the greatest biodiversity in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
