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Collared Whitestart | Myioborus torquatus
Halsbandzanger | Candelita collareja
The Collared Whitestart is a warbler with a yellow face, a rufous crown and a grey band across the yellow breast. It occurs only in the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama. It is not shy and sometimes follows walkers or large animals to catch insects they disturb.
Voice
The song is a varied, sweet series of high notes, more variable than that of Slate-throated Whitestart. The call is a thin tsip.
Recording: MiriamEaglemon — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
12–13 cm. Forehead and crown rufous, face including the lores and eye-ring bright yellow. Upperparts slate-grey. Throat and belly yellow, separated by a dark grey band across the breast, the 'collar'. Tail black with white outer feathers. The sexes are alike. Young birds are duller and browner, with a fainter breast band.
Confusion species
Slate-throated Whitestart Myioborus miniatus, which lives in the same mountains but usually lower, has a slate-grey head and throat and an orange-red belly. Black-cheeked Warbler Basileuterus melanogenys has a rufous crown with a white eyebrow and a black cheek, but an olive-green back and whitish underparts. Golden-browed Warbler Basileuterus belli does not occur in Costa Rica and Panama.
Habitat
Cloud forest and oak forest in the mountains, forest edges, clearings, pastures with scattered trees and scrub above the treeline; mostly between 1500 and 3400 m. It searches for insects low in the vegetation and on the ground, fanning its tail and wings, and joins mixed flocks. The nest is built on the ground, against a steep bank.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Only in the guide area: the mountains of Costa Rica, from the Cordillera de Tilarán and the Cordillera Central to the Cordillera de Talamanca, and the adjoining mountains of western Panama, in Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro and Veraguas.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Regularly seen along roads and trails in the highlands, for example on Cerro de la Muerte in Costa Rica and around Volcán Barú in Panama. It sometimes comes within a few metres to take disturbed insects.
Conservation status
Not threatened (LC). Common within its small range, a large part of which lies in protected areas.
Scientific name
Myioborus torquatus | (Baird, 1865)
Baird described the species in 1865 as Setophaga torquata; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Myioborus was introduced in 1865 by Baird. Myioborus is Greek, from muia 'fly' and -boros '-devouring': 'fly-eater'. torquatus is Latin for 'collared', after the dark band across the yellow breast. The specimen the first description was based on came from San José, Costa Rica.