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Black-cheeked Warbler | Basileuterus melanogenys
Zwartwangzanger | Reinita carinegra
The Black-cheeked Warbler is a warbler of the highest montane forests of Costa Rica and western Panama, with a rufous crown, a long white eyebrow and a black cheek. It lives in pairs or small groups in the understorey of oak and cloud forest, often in bamboo, and occurs nowhere else in the world.
Voice
The song is a fast, high and thin series of chipping and twittering notes, often by two birds at once. The call is a thin, high tsit, given constantly by groups.
Recording: Helge Kvam — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
13 cm. Crown cinnamon-rufous, edged at the sides by a narrow black border; below it a long white eyebrow. Lores and cheek black, so that the white stripe stands out sharply. Upperparts olive-green to olive-brown, without wing bars. Throat and breast pale grey to dull white, flanks olive-grey. Male and female are alike; young birds are duller, with less distinct head markings.
Confusion species
Chestnut-capped Warbler Basileuterus delattrii also has a rufous crown and a white eyebrow, but has a yellow throat and yellow underparts and lives much lower, in forest edges and scrub. Black-eared Warbler Basileuterus melanotis has a black ear patch, but a striped head with a pale central crown stripe and dull yellow underparts; it usually lives lower on the slopes.
Habitat
Understorey of oak forest and cloud forest in the high mountains, especially where bamboo grows, also in scrub at forest edges and near the tree line; mostly between about 2000 and 3300 m, locally a little lower. It searches for insects close to the ground and joins mixed flocks of other montane birds.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Endemic to the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama: the Cordillera Central and Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica and the adjoining mountains of Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro. Resident; at most it moves short distances up and down the slopes.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Regularly seen along trails in the oak forest around Cerro de la Muerte in Costa Rica and on the slopes of Volcán Barú in Panama, usually in the bamboo understorey, where the high calls give the groups away.
Conservation status
Not threatened (LC). The range is small, but much of the montane forest lies in protected areas and the species is common there.
Scientific name
Basileuterus melanogenys | Baird, 1865
Baird described the species in 1865 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Basileuterus was introduced in 1848 by Cabanis. Basileuterus is Greek, from basileuteros 'more kingly', after the coloured crown stripe recalling a little crown. melanogenys is Greek, from melas 'black' and genus 'cheek', after the black cheek patch. The specimen the first description was based on came from Costa Rica (possibly San José).