Wrenthrush

Overview

The wrenthrush, or Zeledonia coronata, is a unique species of nine-primaried oscine endemic to the Talamancan montane forests. It is the only member of its genus and family and is not closely related to wrens or thrushes despite its name.

Identification

• Size is 10 to 11.5 cm long and weighs about 21 g, with a plump, short-tailed body.
• Adults feature a large yellow-orange crown patch with black borders, leaden gray face and neck sides, and dull olive bronze upperparts and flanks.
• Juveniles lack the orange crown and have more brownish upperparts than adults.
• Primary song is described as "ssee-del-deet" with emphasis on the ending, often sung as a duet.

Habitat

Found from the Cordillera de Guanacaste in northern Costa Rica discontinuously through western Panama's Chiriquí and Veraguas provinces. It inhabits montane evergreen and elfin forests, particularly dense vegetation near streams and Chusquea bamboo stands between 1,500 m and treeline elevation.

Diet

Forages by hopping among branches and along the ground to search for arthropods, specifically spiders and Lepidoptera larvae. It mostly forages in dense vegetation but occasionally works edges and hunts as high as 10 m in vines and epiphytes.

Did you know?

The wrenthrush is a weak flier with short rounded wings and a small keel, which led to early speculation that it might be evolving towards flightlessness.