WarblersColima WarblerLeiothlypis crissalis
- ORDER: Passeriformes
- FAMILY: Parulidae
Basic Description
The understated, gray-brown Colima Warbler is a bird of Mexico's pine-oak woodlands. Both sexes flash a neat white eyering and brilliant yellow base of the tail as they search through foliage for insects and spiders. The female builds a cup nest on the ground under protective rocks or grasses. The species lives almost exclusively in Mexico, breeding high in the mountains of the Sierra Madre Oriental and migrating to the Pacific slope for the nonbreeding season. Its range barely reaches the U.S. in the Big Bend region of Texas.
More ID InfoOther Names
- Reinita de Colima (Spanish)
- Paruline de Colima (French)
- Cool Facts
- Colima Warblers breed across several states in northeastern Mexico, but in the United States, the only place to see this species is in the Chisos Mountains of Texas in Big Bend National Park. Ornithologists first documented the species in the U.S. in July 1928, in the Big Bend area, and the first scientific nest description came from the Chisos Mountains four years later.
- Among birds that regularly occur in the United States, Colima Warbler is one of the hardest to see. The first step is to travel to Big Bend National Park, tucked in a remote corner of western Texas. The warblers only occur at higher elevations, though, so seeing one requires hiking several miles into the rugged backcountry of the park to reach their breeding habitat.
- Despite its name, this warbler is rarely encountered in the western Mexican state of Colima. It occurs regularly, though, on the slopes of Volcán Nevado de Colima in neighboring Jalisco.