Slender-billed Xenops

Overview

The slender-billed xenops, Xenops tenuirostris, is a small bird belonging to the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is a year-round resident across a wide distribution in South and Central America, assessed by the IUCN as being of Least Concern.

Identification

• Length is 10 to 11.5 cm with a weight of 9 to 11 g.
• Features a distinctive wedge-shaped bill that is longer and thinner than those of other xenops species.
• Plumage includes a rufescent brown back with creamy buff spots, a reddish rufous rump, and dull olive-brown underparts marked with pale buff streaks.
• Song consists of a series of four or five notes described as "tseep" and "tsip".

Habitat

The species inhabits humid lowland and flooded evergreen forests. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, typically occurring below 600 m but reaching up to 1,500 m in Andean foothills.

Diet

The diet consists almost entirely of arthropods. It usually forages as a member of mixed-species feeding flocks, primarily within the forest subcanopy and canopy by hammering and gleaning while hitching along branches.

Did you know?

Nothing is known about the breeding biology of the slender-billed xenops.