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Blackburnian warbler

species of bird

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ27075919 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Blackburnian warbler (Setophaga fusca) is a small New World warbler. They breed in eastern North America, from southern Canada, westwards to the southern Canadian Prairies, the Great Lakes region and New England, to North Carolina. They are migratory, wintering in southern Central America and South America, and are very rare vagrants to western Europe. The common name honors the English botanist Anna Blackburne.

Taxonomy

The Blackburnian warbler was formally described in 1776 by the German zoologist Philipp Statius Müller under the binomial name Motacilla fusca. The specific epithet is Latin meaning "dusky", "black" or "brown". Müller based his account on a handcoloured plate of the "Figuier étranger" that had been engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet to accompany the Comte de Buffon's multivolume work Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The type location is French Guiana. The Blackburnian warbler is now placed in the genus Setophaga that was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827. The genus name Setophaga combines the Ancient Greek σης/sēs, σητος/sētos meaning "moth" with -φαγος/-phagos meaning "-eating".

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Blackburnian warbler” is species of bird. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Blackburnian, warbler and species, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA sound reference starting point where classification, measurement and the date of the underlying evidence remain visible. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1776, 1827—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Blackburnian, warbler and species is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “species of bird” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q27075919. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1776 and 1827.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

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  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Blackburnian warbler”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Blackburnian warbler primary sources, Blackburnian warbler archive and Blackburnian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Blackburnian warbler”?
  2. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
  3. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Blackburnian warbler” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.