All species › Passerines › New World warblers › Grey-throated Warbler
Grey-throated Warbler | Myiothlypis cinereicollis
Grijskeelzanger | Reinita gorgigrís | Pula-pula-de-garganta-cinza
The Grey-throated Warbler is a warbler of the understorey of montane forest in north-eastern Colombia and adjacent western Venezuela, with a grey head and throat above yellow underparts. Its range is fragmented and limited to the Serranía de Perijá and the northern part of the Eastern Andes.
Voice
The song is a fast, rising series of high, bright notes. The call is a dry tchek.
Recording: Nick Athanas — CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
14 cm, rather sturdy, with a fairly long tail. The head and nape are grey; the crown has a yellow central stripe, bordered dark on each side. The upperparts are olive-green. The throat and upper breast are grey, the rest of the underparts yellow, with olive flanks. The sexes are alike. Young birds are duller, with a fainter crown stripe.
Confusion species
Russet-crowned Warbler Myiothlypis coronata has a rufous instead of yellow crown stripe, with black lateral bands and a black eyestripe, and usually lives higher. Golden-crowned Warbler Basileuterus culicivorus is smaller, with a yellow throat and a yellow to orange crown stripe between black bands. Black-crested Warbler Myiothlypis nigrocristata has a black crown, a yellow supraloral stripe and yellow underparts, and lives higher.
Habitat
Dense understorey of humid montane forest, forest edges, old secondary forest, scrub and shade coffee, mainly between 800 and 2100 m. It forages in pairs, sometimes with mixed flocks, for insects low in the vegetation. The nest, as in related species, is presumably a domed nest 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
Colombia: Serranía de Perijá and the northern part of the Eastern Andes, mainly in Norte de Santander and Santander, locally further south. Absent from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in western Venezuela, in the Sierra de Perijá and the Andes of Táchira.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search the understorey of forest edges and shade coffee on the slopes of the Eastern Andes in Norte de Santander and Santander. Listen for the high, rising song from dense scrub.
Conservation status
Least Concern according to the current assessment. The range is small and fragmented, and the montane forest in this part of Colombia has largely been converted to farmland; the species does tolerate shade coffee and secondary growth.
Scientific name
Myiothlypis cinereicollis | (Sclater, 1864)
Sclater described the species in 1864 as Basileuterus cinereicollis; 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 cinereus, 'ash-grey', and -collis, '-necked'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bogotá, Colombia.