Black-cheeked Warbler
Encyclopedia
The Black-cheeked Warbler (Basileuterus melanogenys) is a New World warbler
which is a resident breeding bird
endemic to the mountains of central and southern Costa Rica
and western Panama
.
It is normally found in oak
forests with a dense bamboo
understory from 2500 m altitude to the timberline, but occasionally occurs as low as 1600 m. The breeding pair builds a bulky domed nest with a side entrance on a sloping bank or in a gully, and the female lays two white eggs.
The Black-cheeked Warbler is 13-13.5 cm long and weighs 13 g. It has a rufous crown, long white supercilia and black cheeks. The upperparts are dull olive, the breast is olive-grey, and the belly is yellow-white. The sexes are similar, but the young bird is browner on the upperparts, has a dull supercilium, a greyer breast, and shows two cinnamon wingbars.
Despite this species’ restricted range, it has three subspecies
.
The Black-cheeked Warbler primarily feeds on insect
s, spider
s and other small invertebrate
s, taken low in the undergrowth.
The call note of the Black-cheeked Warbler is a hard tsit, and the male’s song is a lisping spluttered tsi tsi wee tsi tsi wu tsi wee.
New World warbler
The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are not related to the Old World warblers or the Australian warblers....
which is a resident breeding bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
endemic to the mountains of central and southern Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
and western Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
.
It is normally found in oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
forests with a dense bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
understory from 2500 m altitude to the timberline, but occasionally occurs as low as 1600 m. The breeding pair builds a bulky domed nest with a side entrance on a sloping bank or in a gully, and the female lays two white eggs.
The Black-cheeked Warbler is 13-13.5 cm long and weighs 13 g. It has a rufous crown, long white supercilia and black cheeks. The upperparts are dull olive, the breast is olive-grey, and the belly is yellow-white. The sexes are similar, but the young bird is browner on the upperparts, has a dull supercilium, a greyer breast, and shows two cinnamon wingbars.
Despite this species’ restricted range, it has three subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
.
- B. m. melanogenys, the nominate race described above, breeds in central and southern Costa Rica.
- B. m. eximius is highly localised in a small area of western Panama, and is slightly whiter on the belly than melanogenys.
- B. m. bensoni is highly localised in a small area of west-central Panama, and is whiter below than eximius, and a purer grey above.
The Black-cheeked Warbler primarily feeds on insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s and other small invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s, taken low in the undergrowth.
The call note of the Black-cheeked Warbler is a hard tsit, and the male’s song is a lisping spluttered tsi tsi wee tsi tsi wu tsi wee.