Flavescent Warbler

Overview

The flavescent warbler, Myiothlypis flaveola, is a species of bird in the family Parulidae, commonly known as New World warblers. Its specific epithet and English name derive from the Latin flaveolus, meaning yellowish.

Identification

• Approximately 14.5 cm long with a weight of 9 to 16 g, featuring an olive-green crown, upperparts, wings, and tail.
• Distinctive facial markings include a yellow supercilium, a dusky eye-stripe, a yellow crescent under the eye, and yellow cheeks and ear coverts.
• Throat and underparts are yellow, paired with a dark iris, a blackish bill, and orange-pink legs and feet.
• The nominate subspecies sings a double-voiced series of high fififi notes interwoven with mid-high tjeh sounds, while the pallidirostris subspecies produces sharp, jerky calls such as seeka-seeka-SEETA or chew-chew-chew.

Habitat

Found across parts of South America including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Paraguay, and Venezuela. It inhabits dry deciduous and semi-deciduous forest, gallery forest, and shrubby clearings or edges, typically at elevations ranging from sea level to 1,200 m.

Diet

The bird feeds on insects and other arthropods, foraging on the ground or just above it in vegetation. It hops along the ground to find prey by turning over leaves with its bill, usually acting singly or in pairs without joining mixed-species flocks.

Did you know?

Its nest is a globe constructed from plant material such as grass and leaves, complete with a side entrance, and is placed on the ground or very close above it.