Stout-billed Cinclodes

Overview

The stout-billed cinclodes (Cinclodes excelsior) is a large bird species in the ovenbird family Furnariidae, found in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. It is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, with a stable but somewhat restricted population.

Identification

• Size and Build: A large cinclodes measuring 20–21 cm long and weighing 62–66 g, characterised by a thick-based, decurved bill.
• Plumage: Predominantly dark brown upperparts with a very dark brown crown; underparts range from whitish throats to pale grayish-brown bellies, with brown flanks bearing pale streaks.
• Facial Markings: Features a long white supercilium extending to the hindneck and a whitish malar area with dark scallops on an otherwise dark brown face.
• Song: Emits a rising and swelling trill described as 'tr-r-r-r-r-r-r-reet' and calls such as nasal 'kiu', 'druut', or 'ken-eek'.

Habitat

This species inhabits a variety of high-altitude landscapes between 3,200 and 4,500 m, including rocky páramo grasslands, semi-humid to humid montane scrublands, and Polylepis groves, favouring areas near water and boggy meadows. Its range is disjunct, with the northern subspecies in Colombia's Central Andes and the nominate subspecies extending south through Ecuador to Azuay Province.

Diet

Primarily feeds on invertebrates, but also consumes seeds and small vertebrates such as frogs. It forages singly or in pairs, probing and digging in moist soil, mud, and debris, occasionally gleaning from low vegetation.

Did you know?

Males perform a wing-flapping display while singing from a perch during courtship, and the species nests at the end of a tunnel excavated in earth banks, particularly in friable pumice soils.