Pink-headed Warbler
Encyclopedia
The Pink-headed Warbler (Ergaticus versicolor) is a small passerine
bird
found in the southwestern highlands of Guatemala
and the central and southeastern highlands of the Mexican
state of Chiapas
. The adult is primarily red, with a silvery-pink head and chest. It is a fairly common to common resident of humid to semi-humid pine-oak, pine-evergreen and evergreen forest and edge, at altitudes ranging from 1800 – above sea level.
first described the Pink-headed Warbler in 1864, he assigned it to the genus
Cardellina — the same genus as that of the Red-faced Warbler
. It was also briefly assigned to Setophaga, the genus of the American Redstart
, before being moved to its current genus, Ergaticus, in 1881. It is monotypic
across its limited range, but forms a superspecies
with the Red Warbler
, which is found in the highlands of Mexico, north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
. Despite disjunct populations and considerably different plumages, the two have sometimes been considered to be conspecific.
The Pink-headed Warbler's common name is a reference to its most notable feature. The genus
name Ergaticus is a Latinized version of the Ancient Greek
ergatikos, meaning "willing to work", while its specific name, versicolor, is Latin
for "of changeable or various colors". The latter is a reference to the warbler's changeable head color, which, depending on the angle of the viewer, looks either frosty pink or a deeper red than the rest of its body. In Spanish, the species is called "Cabeza plateada" or "Silvery Head".
, though females are, on average, slightly duller overall. The adult has dark red upperparts, a silvery-pink chest and pinkish-red underparts. Its head is silvery-pink, with a reddish forehead, dusky lores and dark brown irises. Its bill is blackish, sometimes showing some horn color on the lower mandible, and its legs are flesh-colored.
The juvenile is a rich brown with slightly paler underparts. However, that plumage is quickly molted. By late summer, young birds are virtually indistinguishable from adults; only their unossified skull
s distinguish them.
in Mexico, and to western Guatemala. It is a fairly common to common resident of humid to semi-humid pine-oak, pine-evergreen and evergreen forest and edge, at altitudes ranging from 1800 – above sea level. Though it prefers forest with dense, undisturbed understory, it is also found in disturbed forest with damaged understory in its strongholds in Guatemala; this is thought to be suboptimal habitat. Though it is among the species expected to occur in El Salvador
, it has not yet been reported there.
, gleaning
insect
s and other invertebrate
s from vegetation (primarily in dense understory
) and making aerial sallies after flying prey. It typically forages between 2 – off the ground, only seldom foraging above 7 m (23 ft) — except during the breeding season, when the male may hunt near the tops of trees from which it sings, as high as 15 m (49.2 ft) up. The species often joins mixed species flocks that pass through its territory. There is some evidence that volcanic eruptions, which can coat vegetation with thick ash and impact insect populations, cause declines in Pink-headed Warbler numbers.
d nest
made of pine needles and lined with moss
. Built on the ground, it has a side entrance. The female lays 2–4 eggs
, which she alone incubates
for 16 days. She spends some 71 percent of her time on the nest during incubation, in stints of 13–35 minutes (average 20.1 minutes) with breaks of 4–13 minutes (average 8.3 minutes).
The young Pink-headed Warbler has a red mouth lining.
by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, while Mexico's government lists it as Endangered
in that country. Its population is decreasing, primarily because the cloud forest upon which it depends is becoming increasingly fragmented.
In 1898, it was described as being "common on the highlands of central Chiapas". However, in recent years it has become the least common of all wintering and resident warbler species in the highlands of northern Chiapas, based on point counts there.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
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...
found in the southwestern highlands of Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
and the central and southeastern highlands of the Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
state of Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
. The adult is primarily red, with a silvery-pink head and chest. It is a fairly common to common resident of humid to semi-humid pine-oak, pine-evergreen and evergreen forest and edge, at altitudes ranging from 1800 – above sea level.
Taxonomy
When Osbert SalvinOsbert Salvin
Osbert Salvin FRS was an English naturalist, best known for co-authoring Biologia Centrali-Americana with Frederick DuCane Godman. This was a 52 volume encyclopedia on the natural history of Central America....
first described the Pink-headed Warbler in 1864, he assigned it to the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Cardellina — the same genus as that of the Red-faced Warbler
Red-faced Warbler
The Red-faced Warbler is a species of New World warbler.Mature Red-faced Warblers are small birds, 14 cm 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...
. It was also briefly assigned to Setophaga, the genus of the American Redstart
American Redstart
The American Redstart is a New World warbler. It is the only member of its genus and is unrelated to the Old World redstarts. It derives its name from the male's red tail, start being an old word for tail.-Description:...
, before being moved to its current genus, Ergaticus, in 1881. It is monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
across its limited range, but forms a superspecies
Superspecies
A superspecies is a group of at least two more or less distinctive species with approximately parapatric distributions. Not all species complexes, whether cryptices or ring species are superspecies, and vice versa, but many are...
with the Red Warbler
Red Warbler
The Red Warbler is a small passerine bird endemic to the highlands of Mexico, north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It is closely related to, and forms a superspecies with, the Pink-headed Warbler of southern Mexico and Guatemala. There are three subspecies, which are found in disjunct populations...
, which is found in the highlands of Mexico, north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and prior to the opening of the Panama Canal was a major shipping route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route...
. Despite disjunct populations and considerably different plumages, the two have sometimes been considered to be conspecific.
The Pink-headed Warbler's common name is a reference to its most notable feature. The genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
name Ergaticus is a Latinized version of the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
ergatikos, meaning "willing to work", while its specific name, versicolor, is Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "of changeable or various colors". The latter is a reference to the warbler's changeable head color, which, depending on the angle of the viewer, looks either frosty pink or a deeper red than the rest of its body. In Spanish, the species is called "Cabeza plateada" or "Silvery Head".
Description
The Pink-headed Warbler measures 12.5 – in length, and weighs 10 g (0.35273962105112 oz). Both sexes have a similar plumagePlumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
, though females are, on average, slightly duller overall. The adult has dark red upperparts, a silvery-pink chest and pinkish-red underparts. Its head is silvery-pink, with a reddish forehead, dusky lores and dark brown irises. Its bill is blackish, sometimes showing some horn color on the lower mandible, and its legs are flesh-colored.
The juvenile is a rich brown with slightly paler underparts. However, that plumage is quickly molted. By late summer, young birds are virtually indistinguishable from adults; only their unossified skull
Skull
The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...
s distinguish them.
Voice
The Pink-headed Warbler's call is high, thin, and somewhat metallic, variously transcribed as tsiu, ssing or tseeip. Its song is a series of short trills and chips, slower and less varied than that of the Red Warbler. Only males sing.Habitat and range
The Pink-headed Warbler is endemic to the highlands of central and eastern ChiapasChiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
in Mexico, and to western Guatemala. It is a fairly common to common resident of humid to semi-humid pine-oak, pine-evergreen and evergreen forest and edge, at altitudes ranging from 1800 – above sea level. Though it prefers forest with dense, undisturbed understory, it is also found in disturbed forest with damaged understory in its strongholds in Guatemala; this is thought to be suboptimal habitat. Though it is among the species expected to occur in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, it has not yet been reported there.
Food and feeding
The Pink-headed Warbler is an insectivoreInsectivore
An insectivore is a type of carnivore with a diet that consists chiefly of insects and similar small creatures. An alternate term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of eating insects....
, gleaning
Gleaning (birds)
Gleaning is a term for a feeding strategy by birds in which they catch invertebrate prey, mainly arthropods, by plucking them from foliage or the ground, from crevices such as rock faces and under the eaves of houses, or even, as in the case of ticks and lice, from living animals. This behavior is...
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 and other 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 from vegetation (primarily in dense understory
Understory
Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...
) and making aerial sallies after flying prey. It typically forages between 2 – off the ground, only seldom foraging above 7 m (23 ft) — except during the breeding season, when the male may hunt near the tops of trees from which it sings, as high as 15 m (49.2 ft) up. The species often joins mixed species flocks that pass through its territory. There is some evidence that volcanic eruptions, which can coat vegetation with thick ash and impact insect populations, cause declines in Pink-headed Warbler numbers.
Breeding
Pink-headed Warbler pairs remain together year-round. In the spring, the male begins singing on good weather days in early February and continues for the next several months, with song frequency peaking between March and May. The female builds a domeDome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
d nest
Bird nest
A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American Robin or Eurasian Blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the...
made of pine needles and lined with moss
Moss
Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...
. Built on the ground, it has a side entrance. The female lays 2–4 eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
, which she alone incubates
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
for 16 days. She spends some 71 percent of her time on the nest during incubation, in stints of 13–35 minutes (average 20.1 minutes) with breaks of 4–13 minutes (average 8.3 minutes).
The young Pink-headed Warbler has a red mouth lining.
Conservation and threats
The Pink-headed Warbler is currently rated as VulnerableVulnerable species
On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...
by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, while Mexico's government lists it as Endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
in that country. Its population is decreasing, primarily because the cloud forest upon which it depends is becoming increasingly fragmented.
In 1898, it was described as being "common on the highlands of central Chiapas". However, in recent years it has become the least common of all wintering and resident warbler species in the highlands of northern Chiapas, based on point counts there.