Fawn-throated Foliage-gleaner
Automolus cervinigularis
Skulking and generally inconspicuous brown bird of humid tropical forest. Found as singles or pairs, clambering in vine tangles or other dense understory, at times in leaf litter on the forest floor; usually difficult to see clearly. Note the rich buffy throat, conspicuous buffy eyebrow and eyering, and rusty tail on an otherwise plain dark brownish bird. Loud song is a repeated, churring rattle, given from middle level perches inside the forest. Occurs from southern Mexico to central Panama, where it approaches the range of Ochre-throated Foliage-gleaner, and best distinguished by voice.
Identification
The fawn-throated foliage-gleaner is 18 to 20 cm (7.1 to 7.9 in) long and weighs 30 to 46 g (1.1 to 1.6 oz). It is a fairly large member of its genus and has a heavy bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a mostly dark brownish face with a bold buff eyering and stripe behind the eye, faint reddish streaks on the ear coverts, and an ochraceous-buff malar area with faint dark flecks. Their crown and nape are dark brown with a faint blackish brown scallop pattern. Their back and rump are rich dark brown that blends to rufous uppertail coverts. Their wing coverts are rich dark brown and their flight feathers slightly paler and more rufescent. Their tail is rufous. Their throat is deep buff, their breast has a dusky scaling pattern on buff, and their belly is dusky buff. Their undertail coverts are pale buff. Their iris is brown to dark brown, their maxilla dark gray, their mandible pale horn, and their legs and feet grayish. Subspecies A. c. hypophaeus is similar to the nominate, with a more ochraceous throat, a paler and mostly plain breast, and brighter rufous undertail coverts.
Taxonomy
The fawn-throated foliage-gleaner's taxonomy is unsettled. Until July 2023, the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) treated what are now the two subspecies of the fawn-throated foliage gleaner, with four other subspecies, as the buff-throated foliage gleaner. At that time the IOC split A. o. cervinigularis and A. o. hypophaeus from the buff-throated to form the new fawn-throated foliage-gleaner, which by the principle of priority took the binomial A. cervinigularis. The IOC renamed the remaining four subspecies the ochre-throated foliage-gleaner to avoid confusion with the former, larger, buff-throated species. It retains the former binomial A. ochrolaemus.<p>The Clements taxonomy had included a seventh subspecies, A. o. amusos (Peters, 1929), in the buff-throated foliage-gleaner. In October 2023 Clements accepted the same split as the IOC and deleted A. o. amusos entirely. The American Ornithological Society has not recognized the split.<p>BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World does not recognize the split of fawn-throated foliage-gleaner, nor does it recognize A. o. amusos. It includes A. o. exsertus as the seventh subspecies of its buff-throated foliage-gleaner. The IOC, Clements, and the American Ornithological Society previously recognized exsertus as a separate species, the Chiriqui foliage-gleaner.<p>The two subspecies of the fawn-throated foliage-gleaner are the nominate A. c. cervinigularis (Sclater, 1857) and A. c. hypophaeus (Ridgway, 1909).
- Scientific name
- Automolus cervinigularis
- Authority
- (Sclater, PL, 1857)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Automolus
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of the fawn-throated foliage-gleaner is found from Veracruz in southern Mexico south through western Belize into northern Guatemala. Subspecies A. c. hypophaeus is found on the Caribbean slope from eastern Nicaragua through Costa Rica into northwestern Panama. The species inhabits lowland rainforest, secondary forest, and also coffee plantations. In elevation it reaches from sea level to about 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Mexico and 1,500 m (4,900 ft) further south.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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