Rufous-capped Warbler

Photo © by fbeeldens
Route 175, Oaxaca City, Mexico, 10 January 2007

Basileuterus rufifrons

Identification

12.7 cm. Olive-green, white underparts, bright yellow upper breast and throat, rufous cap, white superciliary, dark eye-line fading into a rufous cheek, and a white malar marking, stout bill, round and stubby wings, and the tail is long, often raised at a high angle and flicked.

Variation

Subspecies salvini has yellow reach lower breast and possibly more chestnut on head. Some subspecies has most of the underside more similar to the back rather than white.

Photo © by Richard Fray
Florida Canyon, Arizona, USA, 21 February 2010

Similar species

Chestnut-capped Warbler differ in having all yellow underside and in song.

Distribution

Mexico to Belize and Guatemala. Vagrant to USA.

Taxonomy

Formerly included Chestnut-capped Warbler

Subspecies

Eight subspecies are recognized^[1]:

• B. r. caudatus:

• Sierra Madre Occidental of western Mexico (Sonora to Durango)

• B. r. dugesi:

• Mountains of western and central Mexico (southern Sinaloa to Guerrero and Oaxaca)

• B. r. jouyi:

• Sierra Madre Oriental of eastern Mexico (Nuevo León to Veracruz)

• B. r. rufifrons:

• Mountains of southern Mexico (Puebla to Oaxaca and Chiapas) to northern Guatemala

• B. r. salvini:

• Southern Mexico (southern Veracruz, Tabasco, Chiapas) to Belize and northern Guatemala

Habitat

Shrubby highlands near running water.

Behaviour

The diet includes insects and spiders.

The nest is dome shaped with a side entrance, made of plants and fibres, placed on the side of steep banks, rocks or logs. 3-4 eggs are laid and incubation lasts 12-14 days; it takes 9-12 days for chicks to fledge. They can have 1 or 2 broods each breeding season.

Call is a somewhat explosive 'tsup'.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Taxonomic proposals of which no B-8 was the proposal that led to split of this species

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Rufous-capped Warbler. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Rufous-capped_Warbler

External Links

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