Cinnamon-throated Woodcreeper

Overview

The cinnamon-throated woodcreeper (Dendrexetastes rufigula) is a sub-oscine passerine bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is the sole member of its genus and is classified as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN due to its extensive range and stable population.

Identification

• One of the larger woodcreepers with a heavy body, short wings, and a short, stout bill featuring a slightly hooked tip, measuring 22.5 to 27 cm in length.
• Mostly medium brown upperparts with rufous-chestnut wings, rump, and tail, and generally paler, cinnamon-brown underparts.
• Throat is brightish rusty buff, with wide black-edged whitish streaks on the breast extending to the sides of the neck.
• Song is a fast series of loud rattled notes that ascend then descend, always ending with a distinctive lower-pitched 'tchew' or 'trreew' sound.

Habitat

Found across northern South America, ranging from Colombia and Ecuador through Brazil, the Guianas, and Venezuela. It primarily inhabits humid terra firme and várzea forests, favouring palm forests, forest edges, and secondary growth rather than primary forest interiors, and is typically found below 500 m elevation.

Diet

Forages alone or in mixed-species flocks by hitching along trunks and probing among leaf clusters and epiphytes. Its diet appears to consist mainly of arthropods with some fruit, though specific details are not fully known.

Did you know?

Although often considered uncommon to common, this bird is more frequently heard than seen, making accurate population counts difficult. It is also highly sensitive to habitat modification, having been observed to disappear entirely from selectively logged forests.