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Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush | Catharus mexicanus
Zwartkopdwerglijster | Zorzal corona negra
The Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush is a small, shy thrush of the understorey of humid foothill and montane forest, with a black cap and an orange bill and eye-ring. It keeps hidden on or just above the ground and is mainly detected by its song. In the guide area it occurs from eastern Mexico to western Panama.
Voice
The song is a short, varied series of thin, high, somewhat scratchy and metallic notes and trills, often repeated from the undergrowth. The call is a nasal, plaintive meeah and a dry, rattling chirr.
Recording: Richard E. Webster — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
15–17 cm. Crown and sides of head black to blackish, sharply contrasting with the olive-brown back, wings and tail. Narrow orange eye-ring; bill and legs orange. Throat pale grey, breast and flanks grey with an olive tinge, centre of belly white. The female often has a less deep black, more dark brown cap. Juveniles are darker, with pale spots and a dark bill.
Confusion species
Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush Catharus aurantiirostris has a grey, not black head and a warmer rufous-brown back, and lives mainly in drier scrub. Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush Catharus frantzii has a rufous crown and grey sides of the head and lives higher in montane forest. Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush Catharus fuscater (Costa Rica and Panama) has a slate-grey back and a pale iris. Yellow-throated Nightingale-Thrush Catharus dryas (Chiapas to Honduras) has a yellow-orange throat and breast.
Habitat
Dense understorey of humid evergreen foothill and cloud forest, also in mature secondary forest and ravines, mostly between about 600 and 1800 m; locally lower. It searches the ground and low shrubs for insects and other invertebrates and also eats berries.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Caribbean slope of eastern Mexico, from southern Tamaulipas and Hidalgo through Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, then through Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to Costa Rica and western Panama. Locally also on the Pacific slope. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Most often heard, and sometimes seen, on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica, for example around Rancho Naturalista near Turrialba. With patience, singing birds can be found in the undergrowth from a forest trail.
Conservation status
Not threatened (LC). Locally fairly common in undisturbed forest; disappears where the forest understorey is cleared.
Scientific name
Catharus mexicanus | (Bonaparte, 1856)
Bonaparte described the species in 1856 as Mal[acocychla] mexicana; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Catharus was introduced in 1850 by Bonaparte. Catharus is from Ancient Greek katharos 'pure, clean', a name given for the clean plumage of the orange-billed nightingale-thrush. mexicanus is Latin for 'Mexican', after Mexico, where the species was described. The specimen the first description was based on came from Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.