Brown-rumped Foliage-gleaner

Overview

The brown-rumped foliage-gleaner is a species of bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae, specifically belonging to the Furnariinae subfamily. It is a monotypic species that is sister to the chestnut-crowned foliage-gleaner and is currently assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Identification

• Matures measure 16 to 19 cm in length with a shortish, heavy bill and dark red to orange irises.
• Plumage features a rich dark brown face with buff streaks on the ear coverts, an ochraceous malar area, and rich brown back blending to chestnut-tinged brown uppertail coverts.
• Throat is dull tawny-buff transitioning to light brown on the breast, while the tail is dull reddish brown.
• Song consists of a fast, rhythmic 'whip, whip, whudidididit-wrrrrrr' or a staccato burst of upward-inflected notes 'whe-de-de-de-de-de-de'.

Habitat

This species inhabits tropical evergreen forest, usually on floodplains such as várzea and terra firme, and is almost always found in or near thickets of Guadua bamboo. Its distribution in the western Amazon Basin is disjunct, with one population in southwestern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, and northern Peru, and another in southeastern Peru, northern Bolivia, and west-central Brazil. It typically ranges between 300 and 500 m in elevation, though it can occur locally up to 600 m.

Diet

The bird feeds mostly on a variety of insects and spiders, with small tree frogs also recorded in its diet. It forages from the forest undergrowth to the lower mid-storey, acrobatically gleaning and pulling prey from debris and clumps of dead leaves, and regularly joins mixed-species feeding flocks.

Did you know?

The species has a disjunct distribution in the western Amazon Basin, yet the two separate populations remain essentially phenotypically identical. Nothing is currently known about its breeding biology.