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Black-crested Warbler | Myiothlypis nigrocristata
Zwartkuifzanger | Reinita crestinegra | Pula-pula-de-crista-preta
The Black-crested Warbler is an olive and yellow warbler of the upper cloud forest and shrubbery of the northern Andes, from Venezuela to northern Peru. The black central crown with its yellow surround is distinctive. It lives in dense shrubbery and bamboo, and also occurs in overgrown ravines and along roadsides.
Voice
The song is a fast, rising series of sharp notes that accelerates into a rattle. The call is a dry tsip.
Recording: Brian Cox — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
13–14 cm. The upperparts are olive, the underparts yellow with olive flanks. The central crown is black, bordered by a yellow forehead band and yellow supercilium; the lores are black. The bird can slightly raise its crown feathers. The sexes are alike. Young birds are duller, with a less distinct crown.
Confusion species
Citrine Warbler Myiothlypis luteoviridis has an olive crown without black and a less sharply marked head. Russet-crowned Warbler Myiothlypis coronata has a grey head with a rufous crown stripe and a grey throat. Three-striped Warbler Basileuterus tristriatus is smaller, with a head striped in black and buff, and lives lower.
Habitat
Dense shrubbery and edges of cloud forest and upper montane forest, clearings, overgrown ravines and the transition to páramo, often with Chusquea bamboo, roughly between 2000 and 3500 m. It forages low in the vegetation for insects and spiders, alone, in pairs or in mixed flocks. The nest is a domed structure on or near the ground.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the Andes, in all three ranges. In Ecuador on both slopes of the Andes. In Peru in the north, south to about Ancash and Huánuco. Absent from Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in the Andes of western Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Along roads through upper cloud forest, for example at Yanacocha above Quito, watch for warblers emerging low from bamboo and shrubbery; the yellow surround of the black crown can then be seen even at a distance.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species tolerates shrubbery and forest edges and also occurs in heavily disturbed areas.
Scientific name
Myiothlypis nigrocristata | (de Lafresnaye, 1840)
De Lafresnaye described the species in 1840 as Trichas nigro-cristatus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Myiothlypis was introduced in 1851 by Cabanis. The genus name combines Greek muia, 'fly', with thlupis, an unidentified small bird. The species name combines Latin niger, 'black', and cristatus, 'crested'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bogotá, Colombia.