The red-faced warbler (''Cardellina rubrifrons'') is a species of

New World warbler The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds that make up the family Parulidae and are restricted to the New World. They are not closely related to Old World warblers or Australian warblers. Most ...

. Mature red-faced warblers are small birds, long. They are light gray on top with a white rump and a white underside. The face, neck, and upper breast are all bright red, while the crown and sides of the head are black. The spot on the back of the head where the black crown and gray back meet is sometimes speckled gray, or sometimes plain white. They have a quirky habit of flicking their tail sideways while feeding. Red-faced warblers are locally common in mountain forests of

conifers Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extan ...

and

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

at above sea level. In summer they frequent northern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and range up into the states of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

– the

Madrean sky islands The Madrean Sky Islands are enclaves of Madrean pine–oak woodlands, found at higher elevations in a complex of small mountain ranges in southern and southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. The sky islands are sur ...

. In winter they

migrate Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

south into southern Mexico and the

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

n nations of

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. They are permanent residents of the central and southern mountains of western Mexico, the range called

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...

. The nest is a small cup constructed from leaves, grass, and pine needles. It is hidden amongst the debris on the forest floor, buried in the ground, sheltered under a shrub, log, or rock. The female lays 3 to 5 eggs, which are white spotted with brown. Incubation and nestling periods average 12 days each.

Gallery

File:Red-faced Warbler NGM-v31-p305-D.jpg, Red-faced warbler by Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1917)

References

* Curson, J., Quinn, D. & Beadle, D. (1994). ''New World Warblers''. Helm.

* Barber PM, Martin TE & Smith KG. (1998). ''Pair interactions in Red-faced Warblers''. Condor. vol 100, no 3. p. 512-518. * Dobbs RC & Martin TR. (1998). ''Variation of foraging behavior among nesting stages of female Red-faced Warblers''. Condor. vol 100, no 4. p. 741-745. * Hellebuyck V. (1983). ''3 New Specimen Records of Birds for El-Salvador''. Wilson Bulletin. vol 95, no 4. p. 662-664. * Lovette IJ & Hochachka WM. (2006). ''Simultaneous effects of phylogenetic niche conservatism and competition on avian community structure''. Ecology. p. S) S14-S28, JUL 2006. * Martin TE. (1996). ''Fitness costs of resource overlap among coexisting bird species''. Nature. vol 380, no 6572. p. 338-340. * Martin TE. (1998). ''Are microhabitat preferences of coexisting species under selection and adaptive?''. Ecology. vol 79, no 2. p. 656-670. * Martin TE & Barber PM. (1995). ''Red-faced Warbler Cardellina rubrifrons''. Birds of North America. vol 0, no 152. p. 1-16. * Martin TE, Scott J & Menge C. (2000). ''Nest predation increases with parental activity: Separating nest site and parental activity effects''. Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences Series B. vol 267, no 1459. p. 2287-2293. * McCaskie G. (1970). ''A Red-Faced Warbler Reaches California''. California Birds. vol 1, no 4. p. 145-146. * Palacios MG & Martin TE. (2006). ''Incubation period and immune function: a comparative field study among coexisting birds''.

Oecologia ''Oecologia'' is an international peer-reviewed English-language journal published by Springer since 1968 (some articles were published in German or French until 1976). The journal publishes original research in a range of topics related to plant ...

. vol 146, no 4. p. 505-512. * Patricia MB, Thomas EM & Kimberly GS. (1998). ''Pair interactions in Red-faced Warblers''. The Condor. vol 100, no 3. p. 512. * Robert CD & Thomas EM. (1998). ''Variation in foraging behavior among nesting stages of female Red-faced Warblers''. The Condor. vol 100, no 4. p. 741. * Rusterholz KA. (1981). ''Competition and the Structure of an Avian Foraging Guild''. American Naturalist. vol 118, no 2. p. 173-190.

External links

Red-faced warbler videos
on the Internet Bird Collection
Red-faced warbler photoArticle
firefly forest

VIREO ttp://vireo.acnatsci.org/species_image.php?species=Cardellina+rubrifrons Photo-High Res--(Close-up)* ttp://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/19907000.htm Stamps(for

) with RangeMap
Photo-High Res
{{Taxonbar, from=Q427241

red-faced warbler The red-faced warbler (''Cardellina rubrifrons'') is a species of New World warbler. Mature red-faced warblers are small birds, long. They are light gray on top with a white rump and a white underside. The face, neck, and upper breast are all b ...

Native birds of the Southwestern United States Fauna of the Chihuahuan Desert Birds of Mexico

Birds of the Sierra Madre Occidental Birds of the Sierra Madre del Sur Birds of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt

Gallery

References

Further reading

Book

Articles

External links