Pink-headed Warbler
Cardellina versicolor
Unmistakable small warbler of highlands in Guatemala and Chiapas. Favors humid conifer forest, pine-oak forest, and adjacent brushy areas; locally fairly common to scarce. Usually in pairs, foraging at all levels, often moving with mixed-species feeding flocks. Red overall with silvery-pink head and breast and dark wings and tail. No similar species.
Identification
The pink-headed warbler measures 12.5–13.5 cm (4.9–5.3 in) in length, and weighs 10 g (0.35 oz). Both sexes have a similar plumage, though females are, on average, slightly duller overall. The adult has dark red upperparts, a silvery-pink chest and pinkish-red underparts. Its head is silvery-pink, with a reddish forehead, dusky lores and dark brown irises. Its bill is blackish, sometimes showing some horn color on the lower mandible, and its legs are flesh-colored.<p>The juvenile is a rich brown with slightly paler underparts. However, that plumage is quickly molted. By late summer, young birds are virtually indistinguishable from adults; only their unossified skulls distinguish them.<p>The pink-headed warbler's call is high, thin, and somewhat metallic, variously transcribed as tsiu, ssing or tseeip. It also has a low, weak chip that it uses to stay in contact with its mate. Its song is a series of short trills and chips, described as being "clear and cheery" and reminiscent of the song of the yellow warbler, as well as slower and less varied than that of the red warbler. Only males sing. While its calls are heard year-round, the pink-headed warbler sings mostly between February and May, and is silent during the rainy month of June.
Taxonomy
When Osbert Salvin first described the pink-headed warbler in 1864, he assigned it to the genus Cardellina. It was also briefly assigned to Setophaga, the genus of the American redstart, before being moved to the genus Ergaticus in 1881. It is monotypic across its limited range, but forms a superspecies with the red warbler, which is found in the highlands of Mexico, north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Despite disjunct populations and considerably different plumages, the two have sometimes been considered to be conspecific.<p>A comprehensive 2010 paper by Irby Lovette and colleagues analysing mitochondrial and nuclear DNA of the wood-warblers found that the red and pink-headed warblers were each other's closest relative and that their common ancestor diverged from a lineage that gave rise to the red-faced warbler. The authors recommended moving the red and pink-headed warblers back to the genus Cardellina, which has been adopted by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).<p>"Pink-headed warbler" has been designated the official name by the IOC, and is a reference to its most notable feature. The genus name Cardellina is the diminutive of the Italian cardella, a regional name for the European goldfinch, while its specific name, versicolor, is Latin for 'of changeable or various colors'. The latter is a reference to the warbler's changeable head color, which, depending on the angle of the viewer, looks either frosty pink or a deeper red than the rest of its body. In Spanish, the species is called cabeza plateada or 'silvery head'.
- Scientific name
- Cardellina versicolor
- Authority
- Salvin, 1863
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Parulidae
- Genus
- Cardellina
Range and habitat
The pink-headed warbler is endemic to the highlands of central and eastern Chiapas in Mexico, and to western Guatemala. It is a fairly common to common resident of humid to semi-humid pine-oak, pine-evergreen and evergreen forest and edge, at altitudes ranging from 1,800–3,500 m (5,900–11,500 ft) above sea level. It prefers forest with dense, undisturbed understory, but is also found in disturbed forest with damaged understory in its strongholds in Guatemala; this is thought to be suboptimal habitat. Though it is among the species expected to occur in El Salvador, it has not yet been reported there.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Yellow-eyed Junco
Junco phaeonotus
This distinctive sparrow is common in open montane woodland usually dominated by pine. Primarily a Mexican species, barely enters U.S. Much like Gray-headed and Red-backed subspecies of Dark-eyed Junco but with staring yellow eye and rufous back usually extending onto wings. Otherwise pale gray, darkest around the eye. Bill half black, half yellow. White outer tail feathers like Dark-eyed Junco. Forages on the ground, but perches higher when singing. Song has a similar ringing tone to Dark-eyed Junco, but usually with several distinct sections of chips and trills.
Ringed Teal
Callonetta leucophrys
Small distinctive duck. Males have a pinkish breast that is spotted in black with a rich chestnut wing and a metallic green patch on the flight feathers. Note the blue bill. Females have a striking brown-and-white face pattern, and are mostly brown above and mottled or banded brown below. In flight shows dark wings with white-and-green bands. Occurs in marshes and swamps with abundant vegetation; can be even seen perched on fences or low trees.
Sangkar White-eye
Zosterops melanurus
Typical-looking white-eye, with bright yellowish upperparts and bright white “spectacles.” Recently split from Oriental White-eye, to which it may still be referred to as in older literature. Throughout most of its range, this species has a yellow belly, but birds in the far western corner of Java have gray bellies. The only “classic white-eye” throughout much of its range; in areas of overlap with other species, Sangkar’s combination of dark eyes and a prominent dark stripe between the eye and bill base serve to identify it. Found in lowland and foothill forests, forest edges, gardens, and plantations. Calls include bright, descending “deee, deee.” Song is jumbled and high-pitched, and has made this species a sought-after target in the cagebird trade; as such, it is now uncommon or rare in certain areas of otherwise suitable habitat.
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