Streaked Xenops

Overview

The streaked xenops (Xenops rutilans) is a passerine bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae found in the New World. Its range extends from Costa Rica and Trinidad south to Bolivia and Argentina.

Identification

• Approximately 12 to 13 cm long with a short, thick, and wedge-shaped bill.
• Adults feature a conspicuous buff supercilium and a pure white malar stripe on a brownish face, with a dark brown crown showing rufous streaks.
• Upperparts are rufescent brown with faint streaks, while underparts display broad buffy-white streaks edged in dark brown.
• Song consists of an ascending and descending series of 5–10 dry, squeaky 'swee' or 'zeet' notes that accelerate at the end.

Habitat

In the Andes and Central American mountains, it inhabits montane evergreen and deciduous forests, typically between 700 and 2,400 m, while in the lowlands it occupies a wide variety of forest and woodland landscapes from semi-arid to humid. It is found in forest interiors and edges, and is fairly tolerant of habitat disturbance, surviving in small and degraded forest fragments.

Diet

The diet consists of arthropods, including the larvae of wood-boring beetles. It forages in the forest understory and mid to subcanopy levels, gleaning, chiselling, and flaking bark and rotten wood, and has been observed catching flying termites in mid-air.

Did you know?

It has been observed catching flying termites in mid-air.