Spotted Barbtail - BirdForum Opus

Nominate subspecies
Photo © by Pitter
Dapa, Valle Del Cauca, Colombia, 3 February 2020

Premnoplex brunnescens

Identification

13–15 cm (5-6 in)

• Dark brown overall plumage
• white to tawny
• Tawny-ochraceous spots on the breast and round the eye
• Dark brown to roufus barbed tail

Distribution

Central and South America:
Central America: found in Costa Rica, Panama
South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Subspecies brunneicauda
Photo © by Stanley Jones
La Cinchona, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica, March 2006

There are 8 subspecies^[1]:

• P. b. brunneicauda:

• Subtropical highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama

• P. b. distinctus:

• Subtropical mountains of central Panama (Veraguas)

• P. b. mnionophilus:

• Mountains of Panama (western San Blas)

• P. b. albescens:

• Subtropical mountains of eastern Panama (Cerro Tacarcuna)

• P. b. coloratus:

• Subtropical Santa Marta Mountains (north-eastern Colombia)

• P. b. brunnescens:

• Andes of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and northern Peru

• P. b. stictonotus:

• South East Peru (Puno) and western Bolivia (La Paz and Cochabamba)

• P. b. rostratus:

• Mountains of northern Venezuela (Lara, Aragua, Carabobo and Miranda)

Habitat

Mountainous evergreen forests, particularly in areas with moss and ephiphytes.

Behaviour

Diet

Their main diet consists of insects such as ants and cockroaches and their eggs.

Breeding

Adults sleep in dormitories, similar in form to breeding nests. Both sexes construct the loose cup shaped nest from tree ferns lined with fibres and placed over water. The clutch contains 2 white eggs. Incubation lasts 27-31 days and nestlings fledged after 19-22 days.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Remsen, J.V., Jr (2020). Spotted Barbtail (Premnoplex brunnescens). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/56526 on 4 February 2020)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Spotted Barbtail. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Spotted_Barbtail

External Links

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