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Grey Warbler-Finch | Certhidea fusca
Grijze boszangervink | Pinzón reinita gris | Tentilhão-cantor-cinzento
The Grey Warbler-Finch is the sister species of the Green Warbler-Finch and replaces it on the outer, mostly low and dry islands of the Galápagos. With its thin, pointed bill and active foraging it recalls a warbler. The two species differ in colour, distribution, habitat and song.
Voice
The song is a fast, high series of clear notes, often with a trill, and differs from that of Green Warbler-Finch. The call is a thin, high tsip.
Recording: Eric DeFonso — CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
10 cm, slender, with a thin, pointed, straight bill. Upperparts greyish brown to greyish olive, underparts pale dingy grey to pale buff. Some birds show an orange-buff tinge on the throat or breast. No streaking. It moves constantly and often flicks its wings. There are small differences in colour and bill shape between islands. The sexes are alike; juveniles are duller.
Confusion species
Green Warbler-Finch Certhidea olivacea is greener and lives on the central, higher islands; the two do not share islands. Females and young of Mangrove Warbler Setophaga petechia are yellower, with yellow tail spots. Small Ground Finch Geospiza fuliginosa and Sharp-beaked Ground Finch Geospiza difficilis have a thicker, conical bill.
Habitat
Mainly the arid lowland zone with scrub, palo santo and cacti, on low islands also coastal vegetation; on islands with highlands, such as San Cristóbal, also the humid zone. It forages actively in foliage, on branches and among flowers for small insects and spiders and also takes some nectar. The nest is a globular structure with a side entrance, in a shrub or tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Endemic to the Galápagos, on the outer islands, including Española, Floreana, San Cristóbal and Genovesa, and also Santa Fe, Marchena, Pinta and the northern islands of Wolf and Darwin, among others. Absent from mainland Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
- Resident
How and when to look
On Española, for example at Punta Suárez, and on Genovesa, in the low scrub along the trails; watch for small grey birds moving through the branches with flicking wings.
Conservation status
Least Concern. On some islands, such as Floreana and San Cristóbal, the species has become scarce; threats include habitat change caused by invasive plants and grazing animals, introduced predators and the parasitic fly Philornis downsi, whose larvae attack nestlings.
Scientific name
Certhidea fusca | Sclater & Salvin, 1870
Sclater & Salvin described the species in 1870 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Certhidea was introduced in 1837 by Gould. The genus name is a diminutive of Certhia, the treecreeper genus: a bird resembling a treecreeper. The species name is Latin fuscus, 'dusky', referring to the grey-brown plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Isla Pinta, Galápagos.