Dusky Leaftosser

Overview

The dusky leaftosser (Sclerurus obscurior) is a small songbird belonging to the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found across parts of South and Central America, though its specific taxonomy remains unsettled with some authorities grouping it with the tawny-throated leaftosser.

Identification

• Adults of the nominate subspecies feature dark reddish to chestnut brown upperparts with darker brown wings and a dark brown to black brown tail.
• The face is brownish with a tawny chestnut throat and darker chestnut chest and breast.
• The bill is fairly long and straight with a dark upper part and a bicoloured lower part, while the legs are dusky to black.
• The song is a melodious descending series of 4 to 15 upslurred whistles, sometimes starting with a sharp spik! and ending with stuttering short notes.

Habitat

This species inhabits moist tropical evergreen forest, ranging from lowland rainforest to humid sub-montane forest. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Elevations vary by subspecies, reaching up to 1,100 m in Brazil and 2,100 m in Colombia.

Diet

Foraging mostly on the ground, the bird hops while flipping aside leaves and pecking at leaf litter and rotting logs. It typically forages alone or in pairs. Its diet consists mostly of invertebrates, including spiders, beetles, ants, and roaches along with their larvae.

Did you know?

The bird nests in a burrow in the ground featuring a loose cup of dry twigs at the end of a chamber, where it lays a clutch of two eggs.