Buff-browed Foliage-gleaner

Overview

The buff-browed foliage-gleaner (Syndactyla rufosuperciliata) is a medium-sized bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It possesses a disjunct distribution across South America, with populations in the Andes and the Atlantic Forest region.

Identification

• Measures 17 to 18 cm in length with a thick, slightly upcurved bill and olive to brownish gray legs.
• Adults display a tawny-buff eye ring and a lighter supercilium extending to the nape, with dull olive-brown upperparts and a dull rufous tail.
• Underparts feature a whitish throat, buffy whitish breast with olive-brown edges, and an olive-brownish belly with wide buffy-whitish streaks.
• Song is a loud, fast, accelerating series described as 'kuh-kuh-kuh-kihkihkihkikkikkikku', accompanied by 'kssr' calls and 'set' or 'setet' alarms.

Habitat

Found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Andean populations inhabit montane evergreen and secondary forests often with Chusquea bamboo at elevations of 1,300 to 2,500 m, while southeastern populations live in lowland tropical evergreen and gallery forests up to 2,000 m.

Diet

Feeds on arthropods, foraging singly, in pairs, or in mixed-species flocks within the undergrowth, on the ground, or in the subcanopy. It gleans prey from dead leaves, debris, epiphytes, and branches.

Did you know?

Its breeding season remains poorly defined, occurring in August in Peru and November in the southeast, with nests documented in unconventional locations such as holes in rotting branches, building walls, vertical pipes, and old woodpecker holes.