Inca Wren
Pheugopedius eisenmanni
Boldly patterned wren with a localized range in southern Peru. Reddish brown, with a black-and-white streaked face and breast and a bold white eyebrow. Larger and longer-tailed than the similar Gray-breasted Wood-Wren. Found in dense undergrowth of humid montane forest, often in bamboo thickets. Listen for its rollicking whistled song, usually given in duet.
Identification
The Inca wren is 14.5 to 15.5 cm (5.7 to 6.1 in) long; males weigh 22.0 to 27.0 g (0.78 to 0.95 oz) and females 19.0 to 23.0 g (0.67 to 0.81 oz). The adult male has a dull black crown and nape, a broad white supercilium, and a black and white streaked face. Its shoulders, back, and rump are bright russet and the tail is russet with dusky bars. Its throat is white and the breast and belly are white with bold black streaks. Its flanks are dull yellowish brown. The adult female's crown is charcoal gray, its underparts' streaking is only on the breast, and the tail is less barred than the male's. The juvenile is duller overall, with a brown crown and unstreaked light grayish brown underparts.
Taxonomy
The Inca wren is monotypic.<p>Curiously, this species was not detected by professionals until the 1960s and not described until 1985, though it is regularly encountered at Machu Picchu.
- Scientific name
- Pheugopedius eisenmanni
- Authority
- (Parker, TA & O'Neill, 1985)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Troglodytidae
- Genus
- Pheugopedius
Range and habitat
The Inca wren is found only in a small area of Peru's Department of Cuzco, on the east side of the Andes at elevations between 1,700 and 3,350 m (5,580 and 10,990 ft). It inhabits the under and middle stories of humid montane forest and its edges. It especially favors dense stands of Chusquea bamboo.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Inca wren is known to be insectivorous though details of its diet have been little reported. It forages near the ground in bamboo and other dense foliage, usually in pairs but also in groups of up to six individuals. It seldom joins mixed-species foraging flocks.<p>Almost nothing is known about the Inca wren's breeding phenology. Fledglings have been observed in May.<p>Male and female Inca wrens sing duets, "a rich, varied, warbled series of whistled phrases" [1]. One call is "a rich tchp or tchp-er, sometimes in chattered series"[2].
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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