Red-faced Woodland Warbler

The red-faced warbler (Cardellina rubrifrons) is a species of New World warbler.

Mature red-faced warblers are small birds, 14 cm long. They are light gray on top with a white rump and a white underside. The face, neck, and upper breast are all bright red, while the crown and sides of the head are black. The spot on the back of the head where the black crown and gray back meet is sometimes speckled gray, or sometimes plain white. They have a quirky habit of flicking their tail sideways while feeding.

Red-faced warblers are locally common in mountain forests of conifers and oak at 2,000 to 3,000 m above sea level. In summer they frequent northern Mexico and range up into the states of Arizona and New Mexico – the Madrean sky islands. In winter they migrate south into southern Mexico and the Central American nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. They are permanent residents of the central and southern mountains of western Mexico, the range called Sierra Madre Occidental.