Diet

• Primarily small insects and other arthropods, including caterpillars, beetles, ants, flies, leafhoppers, true bugs, spiders, and insect eggs.

• Occasionally consumes small berries and other fleshy fruits during migration and winter.

• Forages methodically through dense shrubs and low tree branches, gleaning insects from leaves, twigs, and bark.

Range

• Breeds across the central and southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

• Northern populations winter from western and southern Mexico through Central America.

• In the Zihuatanejo region, it is a regular winter visitor, occupying tropical dry forests, thorn scrub, woodland edges, brushy fields, riparian thickets, and second-growth vegetation.

• Most commonly present from October through April.

Male / Female

• Male: Olive-grey upperparts, whitish underparts with a pale yellow wash on the flanks, faint white eye ring, dark eye line, and a slender dark bill. During the breeding season, males often appear slightly grayer on the head.

• Female: Nearly identical in plumage but generally slightly duller and less distinctly marked.

• Juveniles: Similar to adults but with buffier wing edges and a slightly yellower wash below.

• Sexes cannot be reliably distinguished in the field, as plumage differences are minimal.

Size

• Length: 11–13 cm (4.3–5.1 in)

• Wingspan: 17–19 cm (6.7–7.5 in)

• Weight: 7–10 g (0.25–0.35 oz)