Golden-fronted Whitestart

Overview

The golden-fronted whitestart, also known as the yellow-fronted whitestart or golden-fronted redstart, is a species of bird in the family Parulidae. It is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and is considered common within its range.

Identification

• Length of 13 to 13.5 cm with a weight of approximately 11 to 13 g for the nominate subspecies.
• Plumage: Bright yellow forehead and forecrown, white face, blackish rear crown and head sides with a white ear-crescent; grey upperparts and wings; blackish-grey tail with white outer feathers; bright yellow underparts and white undertail coverts.
• Bill and Legs: Blackish bill, dark brown iris, and blackish legs and feet.
• Song: A sweet warbling phrase lasting 3 to 8 seconds that starts faint, increases in volume, and ends abruptly; a call described as a short, high-pitched, steeply downslurred 'tsit' or 'tsip'.

Habitat

Found in Colombia and Venezuela, inhabiting montane forest, cloudforest, and elfin forest in the temperate zone between elevations of 1,800 and 3,400 m. The species has a disjunct distribution, with the nominate subspecies in southern Venezuela and the Colombian Eastern Andes, and the chrysops subspecies in the southern, central, and western Andes of Colombia.

Diet

Diet has not been formally studied but is apparently composed of arthropods. It forages by gleaning from the mid-level of the forest to the canopy, often catching prey in mid-air while flicking its outer tail feathers to flush insects. Pairs and family groups frequently lead mixed-species feeding flocks.

Did you know?

The species' taxonomy is unsettled, with BirdLife International's 2016 Handbook of the Birds of the World splitting the two subspecies into separate species, confusingly renaming M. chrysops as the 'golden-fronted whitestart' while calling M. ornatus the 'yellow-fronted whitestart'.