Rufous-tailed Xenops

Overview

The rufous-tailed xenops (Microxenops milleri) is a small bird belonging to the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is the sole member of its genus and is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN due to its large range and apparently stable population.

Identification

• A small bird measuring 10 to 11 cm in length and weighing 12 to 13 g, with a thin, straight bill and yellowish-brown to olive legs.
• Plumage features a blackish-brown face with a buff supercilium, a dark rufous tail, and a bright buff breast marked with crisp, narrow dark olive-brown streaks that fade towards the belly.
• The song is a short, fast, high-pitched trill that rises and falls in volume.

Habitat

Found in tropical lowland and evergreen forests, favouring terra firme but also occurring in várzea forest. Its range spans from southeastern Colombia and southern Venezuela through eastern Ecuador and Peru into northwestern Bolivia and Amazonian Brazil, reaching elevations mostly below 600 m but up to 1,100 m in some regions.

Diet

Feeds on arthropods, including Orthoptera, by gleaning from bark, leaves, and moss in the sub-canopy and canopy. It forages alone or in mixed-species flocks, often hitching along slender branches and hanging almost upside down to reach the bottoms of vegetation.

Did you know?

The species' taxonomy has been fluid; it was placed in Microxenops, merged into Xenops in the 1950s, and restored to Microxenops in 2011 after genetic data showed it did not belong in Xenops.