Planalto Foliage-gleaner

Overview

The Syndactyla dimidiata, also known as the russet-mantled foliage-gleaner, is a medium-sized bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is a year-round resident found in Brazil and Paraguay, where it has been assessed as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN.

Identification

• Length of about 17 cm with a long, pointed bill and olive legs.
• Mostly rufescent orange face with a deeper supercilium and darker ear coverts.
• Bright rufescent brown crown and upperparts with a cinnamon tinge; rufous-chestnut tail.
• Song likened to a small, slowly starting motorbike, described as a series of ascending 'tsjek' notes that start and end with stuttering.

Habitat

Inhabits lowland tropical evergreen forest, gallery forest, and tropical woodlands within the cerrado between 100 and 1,200 m elevation. Its range covers the southern planalto of Brazil, from Mato Grosso east to Bahia and south to Paraná, as well as eastern Paraguay's Concepción and Amambay departments.

Diet

Its diet is not formally studied but is assumed to consist of arthropods. It forages in the forest understory to mid-storey, taking prey from branches and epiphytes, and is most often seen foraging in pairs or occasionally in mixed-species flocks.

Did you know?

Despite having a large range and appearing in a few protected areas, the species is believed to be decreasing in population due to agricultural conversion of forested areas in the Brazilian planalto.