Bolivian Earthcreeper
Tarphonomus harterti
Medium-sized brown bird of the ground and understory of thorn forest in Bolivia’s lower interandean valleys, though occurs locally at higher elevations. In most of range, the only earthcreeper. Prefers dense understory more than other species of earthcreeper. More often heard than seen, but not hard to find once the dry staccato song is learned.
Identification
The Bolivian earthcreeper is about 16 cm (6.3 in) long and weighs 22 to 26 g (0.78 to 0.92 oz). It is a small earthcreeper with a long and very slightly decurved bill. The sexes' plumages are alike. Adults have a wide buff supercilium on a mostly dark brownish face. Their crown is dark brown, their back and rump rich brown, and their uppertail coverts reddish brown. Most of their tail feathers have rufous-chestnut bases that blend to fuscous brown ends; the outermost pair are entirely rufous-chestnut. Their wings are rich brown with dark rufous bases on the flight feathers. Their throat and cheeks are white. Their breast and belly are pale cinnamon-buff, their flanks rufescent brown, and their undertail coverts dull rufous. Their iris is brown, their maxilla blackish, their mandible pale with a blackish tip, and their legs and feet brownish-olive or gray.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Tarphonomus harterti
- Authority
- (Berlepsch, 1892)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Tarphonomus
Range and habitat
The Clements taxonomy places the Bolivian earthcreeper only in the Andes of the southern Bolivian departments of Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and Chuquisaca. The IUCN also places it only in Bolivia. The International Ornithological Committee and the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society extend its range in northern Argentina.<p>The Bolivian earthcreeper inhabits arid montane scrublands that include short deciduous woodland. In elevation it ranges between 1,400 and 3,000 m (4,600 and 9,800 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Bolivian earthcreeper is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The Bolivian earthcreeper's diet is almost entirely arthropods but it has also been recorded feeding on tiny molluscs. It usually forages alone as it gleans and probes for prey on the ground and in rock crevices.<p>Nothing is known about the Bolivian earthcreeper's breeding biology, though it is assumed to nest during the austral summer.<p>The Bolivian earthcreeper's song is "a series of 7–15 loud, dry, clear, penetrating 'zeet' notes that increase in intensity, descend in pitch, ending in chatter". Its call is "a sharp 'bzeeeeeep' or 'dzyoot', repeated frequently". It also makes a "rodent-like, wheezy, piercing whistle, 'dzeea' ".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Kenrick's Starling
Poeoptera kenricki
A small, slim dark starling. The eyes are brown, and females show chestnut patches in the wings in flight. Found in the canopy of montane forest, mostly at middle elevations, usually in small flocks which frequently gather at fruiting trees. Perches out conspicuously on dead snags and other open perches. Similar to Waller’s Starling, but smaller and slimmer, with brown rather than red eyes, and only females have reddish wing patches. Very similar to Stuhlmann’s Starling, but separated by range. The most common call is a simple “tweep.” Also gives a subdued chattering.
Indian Blue Robin
Larvivora brunnea
Male is slaty-blue with a white eyebrow, dark face, and orange underparts. Female is matte brown with buffy underparts; females in the Chin Hills have a slate-gray back. Furtive and skulky; male sings from deep cover, giving a series of sharp whistles devolving into a burst of trilling and chattering notes. Prefers dense, damp undergrowth in wet forests, often in proximity to streams and gullies.
Lesser Hornero
Furnarius minor
The smallest hornero. Plumage rusty overall with a white eyebrow, a gray crown, and a white throat. Note the gray legs. Found in scrub on river islands and occasionally in human-modified habitats near major rivers. Forages walking on the ground, especially at the water’s edge. The song is a series of fast staccato “kee” notes, usually given in duet. Other horneros with overlapping distributions have longer and louder songs.
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