Streak-capped Treehunter

Overview

The streak-capped treehunter (Thripadectes virgaticeps) is a species of bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is classified as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN, with a stable population across its range.

Identification

• Length of 21 to 23 cm and a weight of 61 to 65 g, making it one of the larger members of its genus.
• Mostly blackish-brown face with buff streaks and a tawny-buff malar area; crown is blackish brown with dull buff spots on the forehead that become streaks on the crown itself.
• Back is rich dark brown with a few buff streaks, blending to a slightly redder rump and reddish brown uppertail coverts; wings are rich rufescent brown and tail dark chestnut-brown.
• Song is described as a short and evenly pitched series of emphatic and well-enunciated notes, 'chup, cheyp-cheyp-cheyp-cheyp-cheyp'; calls include a fast, sharp 'ch-di-dit', 'chi-dik' or 'ju-dut'.

Habitat

Found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, where it has a disjunct distribution. It mostly inhabits montane evergreen forest in the subtropical zone, though it also occurs locally in secondary forest. It tends to stay in the undergrowth and ranges in elevation from 1,300 to 2,100 m, though in Colombia it occurs as low as 1,200 m and as high as 2,500 m.

Diet

The streak-capped treehunter's diet is mostly arthropods and may also include small vertebrates. It forages in dense undergrowth, usually by itself or in pairs, and only occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It gleans and probes for its prey along mossy branches and in debris caught in the undergrowth.

Did you know?

The streak-capped treehunter excavates a tunnel up to about 1 m (3.5 ft) long in an earthen bank and builds a cup nest of rootlets in the chamber at its end. The only known clutch was of two eggs.