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Golden-crowned Warbler | Basileuterus culicivorus
Goudhaanzanger | Reinita coronidorada | Pula-pula
The Golden-crowned Warbler is a small, active warbler of the montane forest understorey, with a yellow to orange crown stripe between two black stripes. The species has a strongly fragmented range from Mexico to Argentina. In the guide area it lives in two separate parts: in northern Colombia and in Bolivia; Ecuador and Peru lie in the gap between them.
Voice
The call is a dry, short chek, often in series. The song is a clear, somewhat accelerating series of whistles rising at the end, roughly wee-wee-wee-wee-chewit.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
12.5–13 cm. The crown has a yellow to orange-yellow central stripe, bordered on each side by a black stripe; below that a grey to olive-grey supercilium and a narrow dark eye-line. The upperparts are greyish olive, the underparts bright to olive-yellow. The sexes are alike. Juveniles are duller, with faint head stripes and a brownish wash.
Confusion species
Rufous-capped Warbler Basileuterus rufifrons in Colombia has a chestnut crown and cheek patch and a white supercilium. Yungas Warbler Basileuterus punctipectus in Bolivia has a black cheek patch, a pale central crown stripe and spotting on the breast. Two-banded Warbler Myiothlypis bivittata is larger and more olive, with a yellowish supercilium. Pale-legged Warbler Myiothlypis signata lacks the black crown stripes.
Habitat
Understorey and middle levels of humid montane forest, forest edge, old secondary forest and shade coffee, mainly between 800 and 2500 m. It lives in pairs and often joins mixed flocks, searching for insects and spiders among leaves and twigs. The nest is a domed structure with a side entrance on the ground, usually against a slope or bank.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Serranía de Perijá and on the Andean slopes in the north and centre of the country. Bolivia: on the eastern Andean slopes and foothills, mainly in Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca and Tarija. Absent from Ecuador, Peru and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from Mexico to Panama, in Venezuela and the tepuis, and from Paraguay and eastern Brazil to northern Argentina and Uruguay.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In the understorey of montane forest, listen for the rising whistled series and follow mixed flocks along forest trails; in Bolivia, for example, in the forests of the eastern foothills west of Santa Cruz.
Conservation status
Not evaluated in this species concept; the forms it comprises are considered Least Concern. Some classifications split the northern and southern forms as separate species. Locally fairly common; tolerates secondary forest.
Scientific name
Basileuterus culicivorus | (Deppe, 1830)
Deppe described the species in 1830 as Sylvia culicivora; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Basileuterus was introduced in 1848 by Cabanis. The genus name is an Ancient Greek bird name, basileuteros, 'more kingly'. The species name comes from Latin culex, 'gnat', and vorare, 'to devour', meaning 'gnat-eater'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.