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Ocellated Piculet - BirdForum Opus

Male, subspecies jelskii
Photo by Stanley Jones
Finca Santa Rosa, ViRica, Oxapampa, Peru, August 2017
Picumnus dorbygnianus

Identification

Female, subspecies jelskii
Photo by Stanley Jones
Finca Santa Rosa, ViRica, Oxapampa, Peru, August 2017

10cm (4 in). A pale-looking Piculet.

  • Black top of head with white feather tips, male with broad red feather tips on crown
  • Buffish-white lores and nasal tufts
  • Buff-brown cheeks and ear-coverts streaked whitish, bordered above by short white stripe behind eye
  • Buffy-white neck sides with darker streaking
  • Pale grey-brown upperparts
  • White underparts with darker feather edges giving scaly appearance, lower belly unmarked

Juveniles are duller and slightly darker than adults, diffusely barred above and below.

Distribution

South America: found in Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru.
Uncommon to locally common in its range.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Two subspecies recognized:

  • P. d. jelskii in the Andes of eastern Peru
  • P. d. dorbygnianus in central Bolivia and extreme northwest Argentina

Forms a superspecies with White-barred Piculet and Ochre-collared Piculet.

Habitat

Moist montanes with many epiphytes, tall bushes in transitional forest in Argentina.
Occurs between 900m - 2500m, 1100m - 2200m in Peru.

Behaviour

Diet

No information about diet. Usually seen in pairs or singly. Often in mixed-species flocks.
Often hangs upside-down on twigs and branches like a nuthatch.

Breeding

No definite information about breeding. Breeds probably before December.

Movements

A resident species with some possible vertical movements.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and J Sargatal, eds. 2002. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334375

Recommended Citation

External Links

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