STATUS: Fairly common.
HABITAT: Found in dense thickets and woodlands along the lower Rio Grande, in mesquite woodlands, and thickets of mesquite, retaima, and hackberry. In winter, wanders in small flocks in more open country, frequenting woods of huisache, ebony blackbean, and anacua.
NEST: The nest is built in a fork or outer branches of small trees or bushes from 5 to 15 feet above the ground, in dense woods or thickets along streams.
FOOD: Feeds omnivorously, including insects, spiders, seeds, acorns, palmetto fruit, and eggs and young of birds in the diet.
REFERENCES: Cottam and Knappen 1939, Oberholser 1974b, Terres 1980, Wilmore 1977.