Sunday Inspiration – Cupwings, Crombecs and Bush Warblers

Mountain Tailorbird (Phyllergates cucullatus) by© Wiki

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16 NKJV)

I trust you are enjoying this Sunday Inspiration series of the Lord’s Creation of the PASSERIFORMES – Passerines (Songbirds) Order. This week’s collection of little Passerines are from three families. Of the 130 families in the Order, we have arrived at numbers 76, 77, and 78. By now, you have see over half the Songbird species in the world. Of the 40 Orders of Birds, the Passerines are the largest.

Scaly-breasted Wren-babbler (Pnoepyga albiventer) ©©

Scaly-breasted Cupwing (Pnoepyga albiventer) ©©

Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. (Acts 9:18 NKJV)

Pnoepygidae – Cupwing [8.2 Version just changed these to Cupwings] has only five species and are endemic to southern and south eastern Asia. The genus contains four species. The genus has long been placed in the babbler family Timaliidae. A 2009 study of the DNA of the families Timaliidae and the Old World warblers (Sylviidae) found no support for the placement of the genus in either family, prompting the authors to erect a new monogeneric family, the Pnoepygidae.

Cape Grassbird (Sphenoeacus afer) ©WikiC

Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. (1 Chronicles 16:9 KJV)

Macrosphenidae – Crombecs, African Warblers family has eighteen (18) members in its family. The African warblers are a newly erected family, Macrosphenidae, of songbirds. Most of the species were formerly placed in the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, although one species, the Rockrunner, was placed in the babbler family Timaliidae. A series of molecular studies of the Old World warblers and other bird families in the superfamily Sylvioidea (which includes the larks, swallows and tits) found that the African warblers were not part of the family Sylviidae but were instead an early offshoot (basal) to the entire Sylvioidea clade.

Chestnut-crowned Bush Warbler (Cettia major) ©WikiC

The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. (Proverbs 14:18 KJV)

Cettiidae – Cettia Bush Warblers and Allies total up 32 species.

Cettiidae is a newly validated family of small insectivorous songbirds (“warblers”) It contains the typical bush warblers (Cettia) and their relatives. As common name, cettiid warblers is usually used.

Its members occur mainly in Asia and Africa, ranging into Wallacea and Europe. The monarch warblers (Erythrocercus), Tit Hylia Pholidornis and Green Hylia (Hylia) are exclusively found in the forests of Africa. The pseudo-tailorbirds, tesias and stubtails, as well as Tickellia and Abroscopus warblers are mostly found in the forests of south and southeastern Asia, with one species reaching as far north as Japan and Siberia. The genus Cettia has the widest distribution of the family, reaching from Western Europe across Asia to the Pacific islands of Fiji and Palau. Most of the species in the genus are sedentary, but the Asian Stubtail is wholly migratory and the Japanese Bush Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler are partly migratory over much of their range. A few species, such as the Pale-footed Bush Warbler, are altitudinal migrants.

The species are small, stubby birds. Most have moderately long to long tails, while the stubtails and tesias have tiny tails that do not even emerge past their tail retrices. The group is typically clad in dull plumage, often with a line above the eye. Some, like the monarch-warblers (Erythrocercus), are much different in appearance, having areas of bright yellow plumage. (Wikipedia)

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