Red-faced Warbler

The red-faced warbler is about 14 cm (5.5 in) long and weighs an average of about 10 g (0.35 oz). The sexes have almost the same plumage. Adult males have a mostly bright scarlet face, throat, and upper breast with a black crown, black ear coverts, and a white hindcrown and upper nape. Their lower nape and upperparts are mostly slate gray with a white rump. Their wings and tail are grayish brown with paler feather edges. Their median secondary coverts have whitish tips that form a distinct wing bar and the greater secondary coverts have pale gray tips whose resulting wing bar is very pale. Their lower breast and belly are grayish white that becomes whiter on the undertail coverts. Adult females have the same pattern as males but have a duller scarlet to chrome orange face. Both sexes have a dark brown iris, a black to black-brown bill with a yellow base to the mandible, and black legs and feet. Juveniles have a rich brown-gray head, neck, and breast and a grayer back than adults. Their tail and wings are dark gray; the latter have two whitish wing bars. Their underparts are white. They have a paler bill and legs than adults.

The red-faced warbler is found from north-central Arizona to west-central New Mexico in the U. S. and from there south through central Mexico to central Oaxaca. It has further disjunct ranges from central Guerrero to western Oaxaca and in several locations in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Small numbers have been recorded in southern California and Texas and it has possibly bred in those states. The species has also been documented as a vagrant as far north as Teton County, Wyoming and in the east in Harris County, Georgia and Levy County, Florida. The last, a photographic record, is from May 2026 and as of July 2026 had not been evaluated by the Florida Ornithological Society Records Committee. The red-faced warbler primarily inhabits fir (Abies), pine (Pinus), and Pine-oak forest montane forest. It also occurs in landscapes with mixed conifers and deciduous trees such as quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) and canyon maple (Acer grandidentatum). Overall it ranges in elevation between 1,500 and 3,100 m (4,900 and 10,200 ft). In its non-breeding range south of Mexico in ranges between 650 and 2,650 m (2,100 and 8,700 ft).

During the breeding season the red-faced warbler feed almost exclusively on insects with lepidoptera caterpillars being a major component of its diet. It is thought to also feed mostly or entirely on insects in migration and on the wintering grounds. It forages mostly by gleaning from leaves, conifer needles, twigs, and branches while perched or hovering. It also takes prey in mid-air. It sometimes forages in small flocks during migration and in winter; the latter flocks often include other small insectivorous species.