Streaked Tuftedcheek

Overview

The streaked tuftedcheek (Pseudocolaptes boissonneautii) is a passerine bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae, found across parts of South America. It is a year-round resident in its range, inhabiting humid montane and elfin forests at moderate to high elevations.

Identification

• A large, strongly patterned ovenbird, 20 to 22 cm long, distinguished by a flaring tuft of almost pure white feathers on the side of the neck.
• Adults of the nominate subspecies possess a buff-whitish supercilium, blackish brown lores, and white cheeks, with a scaly pale golden buff breast.
• Backs are rufescent brown with bright chestnut rufous rumps, and tails are bright rufous; wings are blackish brown with pale rufous edges.
• Females generally have significantly longer bills than males, and juveniles differ with unmarked black crowns and dense black scallop markings on the breast.

Habitat

The species inhabits the interior and edges of humid montane evergreen and elfin forest, typically at elevations between 1,700 and 3,200 m, though it has been recorded as low as 1,450 m and as high as 3,500 m. Its range spans parts of the Andes and coastal ranges in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

Diet

The diet consists of arthropods and small amphibians, foraged by clambering along branches from the mid-level to the canopy, with a focus on epiphytes, mosses, and dead leaves. It forages singly or in pairs and frequently joins mixed-species feeding flocks.

Did you know?

It nests in old woodpecker holes in dead tree trunks, though its breeding season is otherwise largely unrecorded beyond a September end in Colombia.