Crescent-chested Warbler

About the Crescent-chested Warbler

The Crescent-chested Warbler is a Mexican mountain warbler and one of the rarest birds a Texas birder can hope to find. It is blue-gray hooded with a bold white eyebrow, olive-green back, and yellow underparts marked - in adults - with a thin chestnut crescent across the chest that gives the species its name.

In its home range it works pine-oak woodland with mixed flocks, gleaning small insects from leaves and needle clusters, often hanging chickadee-style at branch tips. The song is a short, dry, insect-like buzz.

The species barely reaches the United States: records are almost all from the mountains of far West Texas and southeastern Arizona, involving single birds found among migrant or resident flocks. Any Texas sighting is a genuine event - documented with care and chased from across the state.