Grey-crested Cacholote

Overview

The grey-crested cacholote (Pseudoseisura unirufa) is a large, crested ovenbird found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. It is a year-round resident that inhabits gallery forests, woodlands, and seasonally flooded savannas within the Pantanal.

Identification

• Length 20 to 21 cm and weight 42 to 57 g; adults are mostly bright reddish-rufous, paler on the underparts, with a crest that varies from entirely rufous to almost entirely grayish.
• Yellow to buff-yellow iris; bill blue-gray to gray with a paler mandible; legs and feet olive to greenish gray.
• Flight feathers have fuscous tips, and the ends of tail feathers lack barbs.
• Song is a sustained, loud, accelerating, slightly descending 'chew' note mixed with chattering and rattles, finishing with combined cackling; call is a single 'chuk'.

Habitat

Inhabits gallery forest, woodlands, and seasonally flooded savanna within the Pantanal, often near human dwellings. Found at elevations between 300 and 500 m across disjunct populations in north-central Bolivia and southeastern Brazil, as well as northern Paraguay.

Diet

Diet and feeding behaviour are poorly known, but the species probably feeds mostly on arthropods with some fruit and seeds. It usually forages in pairs on the ground, gleaning, probing, and digging for prey.

Did you know?

The nest is a mass of sticks and branches that is typically twice as long as it is wide, incorporating feathers, shells, bones, and other items, with an inner chamber lined with pieces of bark and snake skin.