Bar-bellied Woodcreeper

Overview

The bar-bellied woodcreeper (Hylexetastes stresemanni) is a species of bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae, specifically belonging to the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae. It is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN, though its population size is unknown and believed to be decreasing.

Identification

• 28 to 30 cm long, heavy-bodied with a shortish tail and a short, massive bill.
• Adults have a brown to olive-brown head and upper back, with rufous-chestnut lower back, wings, and tail.
• Belly and undertail coverts are olive with thin blackish bars, while the throat is whitish with heavy dark streaks.
• Song consists of a loud, somewhat shrill series of 4–6 almost disyllabic 'shu-reeet' whistles, sung almost entirely at first light.

Habitat

Found in the Amazon Basin across Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It inhabits humid lowland forest, favouring the interior of primary forest but also occurring at its edges and in mature secondary forest. Its elevation range does not exceed approximately 300 m above sea level.

Diet

The species is believed to follow army ant swarms and occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It forages by making sallies from vertical perches, ranging from fairly low during ant swarms to the subcanopy at other times. Its diet includes small insects and is suspected to also contain larger arthropods.

Did you know?

Some authors have suggested that the bar-bellied woodcreeper and the red-billed woodcreeper are actually the same species. The bird is also described as 'highly sensitive to human disturbance' despite being classified as Least Concern.