Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush

The black-headed nightingale-thrush is 15 to 16.5 cm (5.9 to 6.5 in) long and weighs about 30 g (1.1 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies C. m. mexicanus have a black crown and a dark gray face with a bright orange eye-ring. Their upperparts are olive-brown. Their throat is white with faint dark streaks, their breast and flanks pale grayish brown, and their belly and vent white. Adult females are similar to males but have a browner head and breast. Subspecies C. m. cantator is slightly smaller than the nominate with a much grayer face and throat and an olive wash on the breast. C. m. Voice: The black-headed nightingale-thrush sings mostly at dawn, dusk, and in the afternoon. Its song is "a series of rapid, thin, flute-like but slightly tinny, fuzzy phrases...e.g. dleet-dloo-dlee-dlee". Its calls include a "harsh complaining upslurred mew, rreahr, meahh or dzeeeet", a "hard dry rattle or trill when agitated", a "soft blurred pseeer", a "slow plaintive chowrr", "grrr", and "meww".