Birdfinding.info ⇒ The western counterpart of the closely related Oriente Warbler is locally common across much of western Cuba. It is most readily found in the Zapata Swamp region, Guanahacabibes Peninsula National Park, and in the mountains of Pinar del Río in Viñales and La Güira National Parks, and Artemisa’s Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve at sites such as Las Terrezas and Soroa. At the eastern edge of its range, it can be found in coastal scrub at Topes de Collantes National Park, where it occurs alongside the Oriente Warbler.
Yellow-headed Warbler
Teretistris fernandinae
Endemic to western Cuba, the Isle of Youth, and Cayo Cantiles.
Occurs in forest understory and brushy thickets, at all elevations, from the Guanahacabibes Peninsula east to the Itabo area of northern Matanzas Province and along the southern coast to the Trinidad area of Sancti Spíritus Province.
Identification
Unique: a small gray songbird with a yellow hood and vivid lemon-yellow eyering.
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Jibacoa, Cuba; December 8, 2013.) © Peter Howlett
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Pinar del Río, Cuba; November 25, 2014.) © Dubi Shapiro
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Pinar del Río, Cuba; November 25, 2014.) © Glenn Bartley
Yellow-headed Warbler. (La Güira National Park, Cuba; January 29, 2016.) © Dušan M. Brinkhuizen
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Soplillar, Matanzas, Cuba; 2005.) © Arthur Grosset
Yellow-headed Warbler, dorsal view showing the unusual keel shape of the bill, a characteristic of this small family. (Guajimico, Cienfuegos, Cuba; April 11, 2018.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Playa Giron, Matanzas, Cuba; April 27, 2012.) © Mark Dennis
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Playa Giron, Matanzas, Cuba; April 27, 2012.) © Mark Dennis
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve, Cuba; February 9, 2019.) © Joshua D. Vandermeulen
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Playa Giron, Matanzas, Cuba; November 7, 2017.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Viñales, Pinar del Río, Cuba; April 2, 2017.) © Kristof Zyskowski
Yellow-headed Warbler—somewhat resembling a Yellow-throated Vireo in this view. (Playa Giron, Matanzas, Cuba; November 7, 2017.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler, showing the thickness of the bill—somewhat resembling a Yellow-throated Vireo in this view. (Guajimico, Cienfuegos, Cuba; April 11, 2018.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Playa Giron, Matanzas, Cuba; January 15, 2016.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler. (La Cuchilla, Ciénaga de Zapata National Park, Cuba; March 27, 2019.) © Forrest Rowland
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Cabañas de Los Pinos, La Güira National Park, Cuba; April 3, 2017.) © Kristof Zyskowski
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Bermejas Forest Reserve, Matanzas, Cuba; April 11, 2015.) © Allan Hopkins
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Guajimico, Cienfuegos, Cuba; April 11, 2018.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Playa Giron, Matanzas, Cuba; April 1, 2016.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Sendero La Ermita, Pinar del Río, Cuba; February 21, 2018.) © Arco Huang
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Playa Larga, Matanzas, Cuba; August 29, 2010.) © Mike Grimes
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Viñales, Pinar del Río, Cuba; March 21, 2013.) © Grace Oliver
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Guajimico, Cienfuegos, Cuba; April 11, 2018.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Playa Giron, Matanzas, Cuba; January 15, 2016.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Playa Giron, Matanzas, Cuba; November 7, 2017.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Pinar del Río, Cuba; November 25, 2014.) © Glenn Bartley
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Soroa, Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve, Cuba; January 26, 2016.) © Aaron Marshall
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Sendero La Ermita, Pinar del Río, Cuba; February 21, 2018.) © Arco Huang
Yellow-headed Warbler, with evidently stained forehead. (Guanahacabibes Peninsula National Park, Cuba; February 10, 2013.) © Hank Davis
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve, Cuba; April 11, 2016.) © Kurt Hennige
Yellow-headed Warbler. (Guajimico, Cienfuegos, Cuba; April 11, 2018.) © Michael J. Good
Yellow-headed Warbler, rear dorsal view. (Playa Giron, Matanzas, Cuba; January 15, 2016.) © Michael J. Good
Notes
Monotypic species.
References
BirdLife International 2016. Teretistris fernandinae. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22721867A94736156. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22721867A94736156.en. (Accessed June 11, 2019.)
Curson, J. 2019. Yellow-headed Warbler (Teretistris fernandinae). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie, and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/61518. (Accessed June 11, 2019.)
eBird. 2019. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed June 11, 2019.)
Garrido, O.H, and A. Kirkconnell. 2000. Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.