|
WatchList Species Account
for Red-faced Warbler (Cardinella rubrifrons)
 |
| Photo: © Dan
Vickers |
A ground-nesting bird, the Red-faced Warbler
breeds at high elevations in montane fir, pine, and pine-oak
forests of Arizona, New Mexico, and western Mexico. The species
may be expanding its range; in recent years it has been observed
in Colorado. It winters south through the highlands of southern
Mexico to El Salvador and Honduras. In the U.S., its populations
may be declining slightly, but in Mexico it is virtually unstudied.
The prime threat to the species is habitat degradation, to
which it is extremely sensitive. Logging in areas where the
bird breeds causes a drastic decling and even complete disappearance
of the bird from those areas. In a study of a gradient of
disturbed plots in forest ranging from clearcut to selectively
logged, the birds were present only in the untouched control
areas.
|