Streak-breasted Treehunter

Overview

The streak-breasted treehunter (Thripadectes rufobrunneus) is a large passerine bird belonging to the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is a year-round resident found in the Talamancan montane forests of Costa Rica and Panama.

Identification

• Size and build: Measures 20 to 22 cm in length and weighs between 48 and 54 g, characterised by a thrush-like shape.
• Plumage: Mostly dark brown with dull rufescence on the ear coverts and a blackish crown featuring long olive streaks; the breast and belly are brown with narrow ochraceous streaks that fade on the lower belly.
• Bill and legs: Possesses a black bill, sometimes with a grayish base to the mandible, and dark brownish gray to greenish gray legs.
• Song: Vocalisations include a scratchy 'che-brah' repeated several times with a scolding quality, or a series of rolling, burry 'chi-wówr' notes.

Habitat

This species inhabits Talamancan montane forests across most of Costa Rica and into Panama as far as Veraguas Province, as well as mature secondary forest. It particularly favours ravines with streams and large numbers of epiphytes, occurring between 700 and 3,000 m in elevation, though most common in Costa Rica between 1,200 and 2,500 m.

Diet

Its diet consists of arthropods such as insects and spiders, along with small vertebrates like frogs and salamanders. It forages alone or in pairs within dense undergrowth, gleaning prey from dead leaves, moss, debris, and epiphytes while hopping, clambering, or occasionally hanging upside down to rip apart leaf clusters.

Did you know?

During the breeding season from February to August, this bird excavates a tunnel up to 70 cm long in an earthen bank, creating a chamber floored with leaf stems and rootlets. Notably, males are known to incubate the clutch of two eggs, while both parents provision the nestlings.