Recurve-billed Bushbird
Clytoctantes alixii
Unique, medium-sized antbird with a spectacular heavy and markedly upturned bill. Male is slate gray with a black throat, breast, and tail, and black dotted wings. Female is chestnut with a darker tail and buffy spotted wings. Rare, local, and hard to see, typically skulking in the dark understory of second growth and mature forest in foothills, often in areas with dense bamboo. Best found by voice; song a series of short notes accelerating “deeu-deee-dee-dee-eet-et.”
Identification
The recurve-billed bushbird is 16 to 17 cm (6.3 to 6.7 in) long. It is rather stocky with a short tail. Its large bill is pale horn; it is laterally compressed and the mandible is upturned. The sexes have different plumage. Adult males are generally dark gray, with a white patch between their shoulders. Their lores, throat, and the center of their upper breast are black. Their wing coverts have small black spots and their flight feathers are brownish black. Adult females have a dark rufous-brown crown, back, and rump. Their wings and tail are blackish with pale rufous tips on the wing coverts. Their underparts are reddish brown that is darker on their flanks and undertail coverts. Subadult males are dark yellowish and blackish brown; their forehead, sides of the head, and throat are reddish yellow-brown and their wing coverts have white dots.
Taxonomy
The recurve-billed bushbird is monotypic. It shares genus Clytoctantes with the Rondonia bushbird (C. atrogularis).
- Scientific name
- Clytoctantes alixii
- Authority
- Elliot, DG, 1870
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thamnophilidae
- Genus
- Clytoctantes
Range and habitat
The recurve-billed bushbird is known from a few sites in Venezuela's Sierra de Perijá and in the Colombian departments of Antioquia, Norte de Santander, and Santander. It was formerly much more widespread. The species inhabits dense undergrowth in the understory and edges of evergreen forest, clearings in the forest that are regenerating, and nearby secondary forest. In one Colombian area it is associated with bamboo. In elevation it ranges between 300 and 1,200 m (1,000 and 3,900 ft) in Venezuela. In Colombia it is mostly found between 200 and 1,000 m (700 and 3,300 ft) but occurs as high as 1,150 m (3,800 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The recurve-billed bushbird is thought to be a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The recurve-billed bushbird apparently feeds mostly on insects. It has been observed seeking prey by pecking open and pulling strips from stems, and at least once has been seen attending an army ant swarm. It has not been observed as part of a mixed-species feeding flock.<p>The recurve-billed bushbird has been reported to breed in April and May in the western part of its range but breeding may start as early as January. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.<p>The recurve-billed bushbird's vocalization is a "loud, mid-range whistling peeeuw peeeuw peeuw-pweet-pweet-pweet.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Exclamatory Paradise-Whydah
Vidua interjecta
A nest parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of pytilias. As with other whydahs, breeding males are spectacular and bizarre, whereas non-breeding males and females are drab and inconspicuous. Breeding males are mostly black, with a rufous collar and a long tail with an odd widened area at its base. Non-breeding males and females have a brownish back, pale underparts, and a reddish bill. Generally scarce and local in broadleaf woodland and lush savanna. Breeding male similar to other paradise-whydahs, but has a longer tail than Sahel Paradise-Whydah, a shorter and thicker-based tail than Togo Paradise-Whydah, and a slightly shorter tail and more rufous collar than Eastern Paradise-Whydah. Non-breeding male and female can be cautiously identified by their combination of a reddish bill, pinkish legs, and simple facial pattern. Not very vocal, but does imitate pytilia vocalizations.
Gray-crowned Yellowthroat
Geothlypis poliocephala
Retiring, olive and yellow warbler of savannas and grassy fields with scattered bushes or low palmetto shrubs. Not in wet marshes, unlike Common Yellowthroat. Perches on bushes and fences to sing and call, when often cocks and twitches tail, and sometimes raises a bushy crest. Sexes look alike, with a grayish crown and small black mask between the eyes and bill; populations south to Honduras have white eye-arcs, lacking in populations of southern Central America.
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