White-breasted Wood Wren

Overview

The white-breasted wood wren (Henicorhina leucosticta) is a small songbird belonging to the wren family. It is a resident breeding species found from central Mexico to northeastern Peru and Suriname.

Identification

• 10 centimetres long and weighs 16 grams.
• Chestnut brown upperparts with a darker crown and black-and-white streaked sides of the head and neck.
• White underparts that become buff on the lower belly, with wings and a very short tail barred with black.
• Song described as 'cheer oweet oweet cheery weather', compared by Luis Baptista to the opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

Habitat

It inhabits lowlands and foothills up to 1,850 metres above sea level in tropical wet forest and adjacent tall second growth. The species builds neat roofed nests on the ground or low in the undergrowth, and may also construct 'dormitory nests' for non-breeding individuals or family groups.

Diet

The bird forages actively in low vegetation or on the ground, often in pairs or family groups. Its diet consists mainly of insects and other invertebrates.

Did you know?

Ornithologist Luis Baptista compared the bird's song to the opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Like some other wrens, pairs of this species often sing in duets.