Chestnut-shouldered Antwren
Euchrepomis humeralis
Small canopy antwren. Gray head, with yellowish underparts, and wingbars; males have a fine black eyeline and cap. Less apparent field marks are its small reddish shoulder patch and reddish back patch. Moves more sluggishly than greenlets or tanagers, which it often joins in mixed-species flocks. Its song is an accelerating series of high, thin notes.
Identification
The chestnut-shouldered antwren is 9.5 to 11 cm (3.7 to 4.3 in) long and weighs about 7 to 8 g (0.25 to 0.28 oz). The sexes have different plumage. Adult males have a whitish supercilium and a thin dark line through the eye on an otherwise pale gray face. Their crown and nape are black, their back greenish olive, their rump rufous-chestnut, and their uppertail coverts and tail grayish olive. Their wing coverts are blackish gray with whitish tips that form two bars on the closed wing, their flight feathers olive-tinged blackish gray with pale olive-yellow edges, and the bend of the wing rufous-chestnut. Their throat and breast are pale gray and their belly and undertail coverts are pale yellow. Adult females have a olive-brown crown, nape and eyeline, a pale gray supercilium, and dark olive-brown wings with at most a trace of chestnut at the bend.
Taxonomy
The chestnut-shouldered antwren was described by the English ornithologists Philip Sclater and Osbert Salvin in 1880 and given the binomial name Terenura humeralis. There it remained until the current genus Euchrepomis was created in 2012 following phylogenetic analysis.<p>The chestnut-shouldered antwren is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Euchrepomis humeralis
- Authority
- (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1880)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Euchrepomis
Range and habitat
The chestnut-shouldered antwren is found from eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru south of the Rio Napo south into northwestern Bolivia and east in Brazil through northern Rondônia and into Amazonas state as far as the Rio Madeira. It inhabits the subcanopy and canopy of terra firme and drier floodplain tropical evergreen forest.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The chestnut-shouldered antwren is believed to be a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The chestnut-shouldered antwren feeds on arthropods, though details of its diet are lacking. It typically forages in pairs or small family groups that usually join mixed-species feeding flocks. It forages almost entirely in the forest canopy, acrobatically gleaning prey from leaves and the ends of branches.<p>Nothing is known about the chestnut-shouldered antwren's breeding biology.<p>The chestnut-shouldered antwren's song is "very high, thin, slightly descending, gradually accelerating to a 'fuh-fuh-weet-weet-d-rrr' rattle".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Newton's Fiscal
Lanius newtoni
A long-tailed, upright shrike with black upperparts, a bold white bar on the wing, and yellow-buff underparts. Juvenile is brownish and barred. Very rare; the only resident shrike on São Tomé and the only fiscal that occurs in forest. Singles and pairs forage at middle levels and in the understory of undisturbed lowland and mid-altitude forest, where they are surprisingly secretive. Song is an unusual incessant ringing “teeeew” uttered once a second for about 30–60 seconds; also gives a more typical shrike-like grating “ker-ker-ker.” The similar-looking Common Fiscal does not co-occur.
Tufted Duck
Aythya fuligula
Common in wetlands from marshy and reed-fringed lakes to open reservoirs; locally on the sea in winter, especially when lakes freeze. Boldly patterned male distinctive: black overall with bright white flanks (whiter than scaup) and floppy crest. Female dark brown overall with short crest, paler flanks, staring golden-yellow eyes, and often a messy white patch at base of bill. In flight, both sexes show bold white wingstripe. Often in flocks in winter; feeds mainly by diving, but often spends much of day sleeping. Widespread breeder across Eurasia, wintering to central Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. Rare winter vagrant to North America, where almost always found singly among flocks of scaup. Compared with scaup, Tufted Duck always shows very dark blackish back, and even nearly tuftless females are darker than scaup with more limited white patch on face.
Levaillant's Cuckoo
Clamator levaillantii
A large, dark-backed cuckoo with a floppy crest, white wing patches, and pale underparts; throat and lower flanks both heavily streaked. It is a brood parasite on babblers and other medium-sized birds. It calls a shrill “kreeeuu”, which is often followed by harsh chattering notes. Levaillant’s Cuckoo is similar to the smaller Pied Cuckoo, which lacks throat streaking and has a smaller crest. Dark morphs of both species are almost identical and can only reliably be told apart by size.
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