Pink-headed Warbler

Overview

The pink-headed warbler (Cardellina versicolor) is a small passerine bird endemic to the highlands of central and eastern Chiapas in Mexico and western Guatemala. It is a resident of humid to semi-humid pine-oak, pine-evergreen, and evergreen forests, typically found at altitudes between 1,800 and 3,500 metres.

Identification

• Primarily red plumage with a silvery-pink head and chest, and pinkish-red underparts.
• Measures 12.5–13.5 cm in length and weighs approximately 10 g.
• Features a blackish bill, sometimes with a horn-coloured lower mandible, and flesh-coloured legs.
• Song consists of clear and cheery short trills and chips, reminiscent of the yellow warbler but slower and less varied.

Habitat

This species inhabits the southwestern highlands of Guatemala and the central and southeastern highlands of the Mexican state of Chiapas. It prefers forests with dense, undisturbed understory, though it may occupy disturbed forest with damaged understory, which is considered suboptimal.

Diet

An insectivore that gleans insects and other invertebrates from vegetation, primarily in dense understory, and makes aerial sallies for flying prey. It forages between 2 and 5 metres above the ground, occasionally reaching up to 15 metres during the breeding season when the male hunts near tree tops.

Did you know?

The female incubates her eggs with her tail sticking out of the nest opening and her head turned so she can see out, yet the species lacks the distraction display typical of many other ground-nesting birds.