| Amazonian barred woodcreeper | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Sacha Lodge, Ecuador | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Furnariidae |
| Genus: | Dendrocolaptes |
| Species: | D. certhia |
| Binomial name | |
| Dendrocolaptes certhia (Boddaert, 1783) | |
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TheAmazonian barred woodcreeper (Dendrocolaptes certhia) is asub-oscinepasserinebird in subfamilyDendrocolaptinae of the ovenbirdfamilyFurnariidae. It is found inBolivia,Brazil,Colombia,Ecuador,French Guiana,Guyana,Peru,Suriname, andVenezuela.[2]
The Amazonian barred woodcreeper was described by the French polymathGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in hisHistoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from two specimens collected inCayenne,French Guiana.[3] The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved byFrançois-Nicolas Martinet in thePlanches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision ofEdme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.[4] Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalistPieter Boddaert coined thebinomial namePicus certhia in his catalogue of thePlanches Enluminées.[5] The Amazonian barred woodcreeper is now one of five woodcreepers placed in thegenusDendrocolaptes that was introduced by the French naturalistJohann Hermann in 1804.[6][2] The generic name is from theAncient Greekdendrokolaptēs meaning "woodpecker". Thespecific epithetcerthia is from the Ancient Greekkerthios, a word used byAristotle for an unidentified small insectivorous bird.[7]
The Amazonian barred woodcreeper's taxonomy is unsettled. TheInternational Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these sevensubspecies:[2]
TheClements taxonomy recognizes an eighth subspecies,D. c. polyzonus (Todd, 1913), which the IOC includes inD. c. juruanus.[8]BirdLife International'sHandbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) recognizesD. c. polyzonus but does not recognizeD. c. ridgwayi.[9]
What is now thenorthern barred woodcreeper (D. sanctithomae) was included in this species until the 1990s; the two form asuperspecies. SubspeciesD. c. concolor has been considered a separate species, the "concolor woodcreeper", but most taxonomists do not accept the separation.[10] The authors who identified subspeciesD. c. retentus treated all the subspecies as individual species but recognized that their analysis did not follow thebiological species concept.[11]
This article follows the IOC seven-subspecies model.
The Amazonian barred woodcreeper is one of the larger members of its subfamily. It is slim, with a long tail, a medium-length straight bill with a slightly hooked tip, and (in the male) a shaggy crest. It is 26 to 28.5 cm (10 to 11 in) long. Males weigh 50 to 73.5 g (1.8 to 2.6 oz) and females 52 to 79 g (1.8 to 2.8 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of thenominate subspeciesD. c. certhia have a mostly brownish face with fine barring, a weaksupercilium, and palelores andauriculars. Their forehead to crown are darkish olive-brown with golden-buff streaks on the crown. Their back and wingcoverts are a lighter olive-brown with weak blackish bars. Their flight feathers, rump, and tail are cinnamon-rufous to rufous-chestnut, with dusky tips on theprimaries. Their chin and throat are pale gray to dirty white that contrasts with the deep buff tofulvous underparts; the underparts have fine dusky bars. Their underwing is cinnamon-rufous to ochre-yellow. Their iris is reddish to dark brown, their bill dark red to brownish with lighter edges and base of themandible, and their legs and feet are brown, greenish, gray, olive, or black. Juveniles resemble adults but with less obvious barring, no pale streaks on the crown, and a shorter and darker bill.[12]
SubspeciesD. c. juruanus is like the nominate but without the golden streaks on the crown.D. c. radiolatus is more richly colored than the nominate, more cinnamon-brown above and ochraceus-brown below, and with stronger and darker barring on the back and underparts.D. c. concolor has little or no barring, darker plumage, and a redder bill.D. c. ridgwayi is similar toconcolor but with more obvious barring.D. c. medius andD. c. retentus are very similar to the nominate but have a duller crown, a pale gray face, and paler underparts with weaker markings.[12]
The Amazonian barred woodcreeper is a bird of theAmazon Basin. The subspecies are found thus:[2][12]
The Amazonian barred woodcreeper inhabits humidevergreen forest. It is partial to matureterra firme forest but also regularly occurs in flooded and flood-plain forest. It is found less frequently in savanna forest, mangroves, and at the fringes of its range, deciduous andgallery forest. It is most common inprimary forest interior but is regular at its edges and in maturesecondary forest. In elevation it mostly ranges from sea level to 900 m (3,000 ft) but reaches about 1,400 m (4,600 ft) in thetepuis of the Venezuela-Guyana-Brazil borderlands. In Colombia and Ecuador it is most common below 600 m (2,000 ft).[12][13][14]
The Amazonian barred woodcreeper is a year-round resident throughout its range.[12]
The Amazonian barred woodcreeper forages alone, as part ofmixed-species feeding flocks, and by followingarmy ant swarms to feed on prey disturbed by the ants. It typical follows ant swarms singly or in pairs but up to four have been observed at a swarm. When attending a swarm it typically perches on a near-vertical trunk and makes short flights to pick prey mostly from foliage but also from the ground, trunks, and vines. Away from ant swarms it forages by sallies from a perch to foliage and less frequently to trunks. Its diet is mostlyarthropods including insects, spiders, centipedes, and caterpillars, and also includes small vertebrates like lizards.[12][13][14][15]
The Amazonian barred woodcreeper remains paired through the year. Its breeding season varies geographically and may extend for 10 months. It nests in a tree cavity, either natural or excavated by a woodpecker. The only documented clutch was single egg. Both parents apparently care for the young, but details of the care, the incubation period, and the time to fledging are not known.[12]
| Songs and calls |
The Amazonian barred woodcreeper mostly sings at dawn, sometimes at dusk, and rarely during the day. Its song is "a rapidly delivered series...of roughly 8–15 simple notes, ascends slightly at first and then descends and slows", also described as "rapid, whinnying, run-together series of up to 12 notes, 1st rising then fading and falling off." It has been rendered in words as "whee-whee-EE-EE-Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-eu eu eu" and "tew-tew-tew-tew-tew-tew-tew-tew-tu-tu tu tu tu". The species' calls "include snarls, a 'chah-eef' alarm, squeaky 'chi-ku', [and] hissing 'piiiuh' ".[12][14][15]
TheIUCN has assessed the Amazonian barred woodcreeper as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range, and though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] It varies from uncommon to fairly common in the lowlands of most of its range. It is less common in the tepui region. SubspeciesD. c. medius is very rare in the isolated subpopulation on the eastern coast, where almost all of its habitat is gone. "Unlike truly 'professional' ant-followers, this species can exist in, or colonize, both small forest fragments and selectively logged forest, at least for several years, provided that continuous forest is nearby."[12]
