Long-billed Woodcreeper

Overview

The long-billed woodcreeper (Nasica longirostris) is a sub-oscine passerine bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae and the only member of the genus Nasica. It is one of the largest woodcreepers, characterised by an exceptionally long, slightly decurved bill. Although its population is believed to be decreasing, it is currently classified as Least Concern by the IUCN.

Identification

• A slim, large-bodied bird measuring 34 to 36 cm in length, featuring a small head, long neck, and long tail.
• Bright cinnamon-rufous to rufous-chestnut back, rump, wings, and tail, contrasted by a blackish brown crown and nape with whitish buff streaks.
• A distinct white supercilium, throat, and foreneck, with breast and sides streaked in black and white.
• An exceptionally long, slightly decurved bill that is ivory to light grey or yellowish grey, often with a dusky base.

Habitat

Found across the Amazon Basin and the Orinoco River Basin, ranging from eastern Colombia and central Ecuador to northern Bolivia, Amazonian Brazil, and French Guiana. The species primarily inhabits the interior and edges of várzea, river-edge, and swamp forests, as well as well-forested river islands, usually staying close to water. It typically occurs below 300 m in elevation, though it can reach up to 500 m in certain locations.

Diet

This bird usually forages alone or in pairs, hitching along trunks and large branches from the mid-level to the canopy. It probes among living and dead leaf clusters, epiphytes, bark crevices, and palm fronds for food. Its diet consists mainly of arthropods, supplemented by small reptiles and amphibians.

Did you know?

The population south of the Amazon River possesses significantly longer bills than those found north of the river, a distinction that has led some authors to classify them as a separate subspecies.