Plain-winged Woodcreeper

Overview

The plain-winged woodcreeper, or thrush-like woodcreeper (Dendrocincla turdina), is a sub-oscine passerine bird found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, the species is noted for its sensitivity to habitat fragmentation and deforestation.

Identification

• Medium-sized bird measuring 19 to 21 cm long, with a short, straight bill.
• Plumage is mostly olive-brown with faint buff streaks on the crown and a pale buff throat.
• Flight feathers, uppertail coverts, and most tail feathers are slightly rufescent, while wing linings are ochraceous buff.
• Song of the nominate subspecies consists of a long series of high, undulating 'keepkeepkeep' notes that fade and crescendo randomly.

Habitat

Primarily inhabits humid lowland primary and mature secondary forest, also occurring in foothill cloud forest and gallery forest within the cerrado. It favors forest interiors but is also found at forest edges, typically at lower elevations though it can reach 1,250 m. Its range spans from Bahia in Brazil south into northern Rio Grande do Sul, eastern Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina's Misiones Province.

Diet

Mostly feeds on arthropods, frequently following swarms of army ants such as Eciton burchelli to capture disturbed prey, often in mixed-species flocks. It also joins flocks led by the cinereous antshrike and has been observed following black capuchin monkeys and coatis. Occasionally, it has been recorded feeding bats and frogs to its nestlings.

Did you know?

Although its diet consists mainly of arthropods, this bird has been observed providing bats and frogs to its young. The nominate subspecies' song can last for a minute or more, featuring a complex pattern of high-pitched notes that undulate and vary in volume.