- Dendrocincla fuliginosa
Includes: Thrush-like Woodcreeper (or Plain-winged Woodcreeper)
Identification
22cm long, and weighs 37g. It is plain brown above and below. The bill is long and straight. Turdina is missing the rufous wings, tail and rump. The song is a descending te-te-te-tu-tu-tu-tue-tue-tue-chu-chu-chu.
Distribution
New World from Honduras through South America to northern Argentina, and in Trinidad and Tobago.
Taxonomy
Several subspecies[1]:
- D. f. ridgwayi
- Tropical se Honduras to w Colombia, w Ecuador and nw Peru
- D. f. lafresnayei
- N and e Colombia and adjacent nw Venezuela
- D. f. meruloides
- Coastal n Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago
- D. f. barinensis
- Llanos of n Colombia and w-c Venezuela
- D. f. deltana
- Northeast Venezuela in Orinoco River delta
- D. f. phaeochroa
- Amazonian e Colombia to e Ecuador, e Peru and nw Brazil
- D. f. neglecta
- W Amazonia from e Ecuador and e Peru to w Brazil
- D. f. fuliginosa
- Southeast Venezuela to the Guianas and adjacent n Brazil
- D. f. atrirostris
- Southeast Peru to n and e Bolivia and sw Brazil (Mato Grosso)
- D. f. rufoolivacea
- E Amazonian Brazil (Rio Tapajós to n Maranhão)
- D. f. trumaii
- Locally in s Amazonian Brazil (upper Rio Xingu)
- D. f. taunayi
- NE Brazil (e Pernambuco and e Alagoas)
- D. f. turdina
- E Paraguay to se Brazil (Bahia) and ne Argentina (Misiones) (isolated from other populations)
Turdina is sometimes considered a full species, Thrush-like Woodcreeper.
Habitat
Lower and middle levels of forest and woodland from the coast into the foothills.
Behaviour
2-3 white eggs are laid in the nest which is lined with leaves and placed in palm tree stumps.
It feeds on ants and other insects in trees, rarely on the ground. It follows army ant swarms in order to catch prey flushed by the ants. It will make sallies to catch insects in flight or snatch them from leaves.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Birdforum thread discussing the taxonomy of this and related species
