Band-tailed Earthcreeper

Overview

The band-tailed earthcreeper (Ochetorhynchus phoenicurus) is a small bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae, found in arid and temperate environments of South America. It is classified as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN, though its population is believed to be decreasing.

Identification

• Length of 16 to 17 cm with a thin, straight, medium-length bill and blackish legs.
• Dull gray-brown crown and upperparts, with a white supercilium, a dark eye-stripe, and rufescent cheeks.
• Tail features a central pair of fuscous blackish feathers and outer feathers with a sharp division between dark rufous bases and black ends.
• Song is a fast dry trill, sometimes ending with sharp 'ti' notes; alarm call is a repeated husky 'suwee' or 'wheet'.

Habitat

Found in southwestern Argentina between Neuquén and Santa Cruz provinces, and in the northeastern part of southern Chile's Magallanes Region. It inhabits arid scrublands and temperate grasslands, favouring thinly vegetated plains, plateaus, and slopes from near sea level to 1,200 m in elevation.

Diet

Forages on the ground, usually singly, for an arthropod diet. It probes and gleans on bare ground, in rock crevices, and within grass clumps and cushion plants.

Did you know?

It constructs a ball nest made of thorny twigs with a side entrance leading to a tunnel, typically placed 1 to 2 m above the ground in a low bush or cactus, and lines the chamber with soft materials such as hair, flowers, and feathers.