Plain-brown Woodcreeper

Identification

The plain-brown woodcreeper is 19 to 22.5 cm (7.5 to 8.9 in) long. Males weigh 30 to 50 g (1.1 to 1.8 oz) and females 25 to 46 g (0.88 to 1.6 oz). The species is a medium-sized member of its genus, with a straight medium-length bill and a slight crest. The sexes have the same plumage but females are smaller than males. The nominate subspecies D. f. fuliginosa has a narrow buff supercilium and a faint buff stripe under an otherwise grayish face. Its crown, nape, back, and wing coverts are dull olive-brown; its uppertail coverts and tail are rufous-chestnut. Its wings are rufous-chestnut with dusky outer edges and tips on the primaries. Its throat is pale gray to buffy with fine mottling. Its breast and belly are paler olive-brown than its back and with fine buff streaks on the former. Its undertail coverts are cinnamon-rufous and its underwing coverts cinnamon-buff to ochraceous. Its iris is yellowish brown to dark brown or pale gray, its bill black with whitish, yellowish, or gray edges and tip, and its legs and feet black, slate gray, dark brownish olive, or light blue.<p>The other subspecies of the plain-brown woodcreeper differ from the nominate thus:

Taxonomy

The plain-brown woodcreeper's taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy assign it these 11 subspecies:<p>BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) includes subspecies taunayi in the plain-brown woodcreeper. The IOC and Clements assign it to the plain-winged woodcreeper (D. turdina), which itself was once considered to be part of the plain-brown woodcreeper.<p>In the past some authors have treated atrirostris as a separate species. Subspecies meruloides has in the past been treated as a separate species and also as a subspecies of the white-chinned woodcreeper (D. merula).<p>This article follows the 11-subspecies model.

Scientific name

Dendrocincla fuliginosa

Authority

(Vieillot, 1818)

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Dendrocolaptidae

Genus

Dendrocincla

Range and habitat

The subspecies of the plain-brown woodcreeper are found thus:<p>The plain-brown woodcreeper inhabits a variety of humid forest landscapes. It is most common in evergreen forest and occurs less frequently in deciduous and gallery forest, rainforest, and forest on sandy soils. It is occasionally found in mangroves. In the Amazon Basin it mostly inhabits terra firme and floodplain forests, and less frequently occurs in várzea and swamp forests. It mostly favors the interior of primary forest but is frequently found at its edges and in mature secondary forest. It is uncommon in young secondary forest, bamboo, and plantations. It is a bird of the lowlands and foothills, seldom occurring above 1,300 m (4,300 ft). In elevation it is mostly found below 750 m (2,500 ft) in Honduras, 900 m (3,000 ft) in Costa Rica, 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in Colombia, and 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in Ecuador. It does reach 2,000 m (6,600 ft) near the Caribbean coast in Colombia and Venezuela.

Migration

Resident species

Behavior

The plain-brown woodcreeper is a year-round resident throughout its range, though some local movements are suspected.<p>The plain-brown woodcreeper mostly forages in the lower to mid-levels of the forest. Its diet is a wide variety of arthropods (mostly beetles and orthoptera) and also includes small vertebrates like lizards. It often follows army ant swarms to feed on prey fleeing the ants, but is not exclusively an ant-follower. It often forages alone, as a member of a mixed-species feeding flock, and by following South American coatis (Nasua nasua) and troops of monkeys . When attending an ant swarm it clings to a vertical trunk or vine, typically between 4 and 10 m (13 and 33 ft) above the ground. It makes brief flights to capture prey from other trunks and stems, foliage, the ground, and in mid-air. Away from ants it may perch higher or lower, and on horizontal branches.<p>The plain-brown woodcreeper's nesting season varies geographically, from May to October in Central America and apparently August to December in Amazonia. It builds a cup nest of dead leaves, plant fibers, and plant down at the bottom of a cavity in a stump, bamboo, or palm; it may first build up a deep cavity with moss. Pairs appear to bond only briefly and only females are known to incubate eggs and tend nestlings. The clutch size is one to three eggs. The incubation period is not known; fledging occurs 23 to 25 days after hatch.<p>The plain-brown woodcreeper's song is variously described as a long whinny, rattle, or sputter. It has been put into words as "Whee-hee-he-hah-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu-hoo-hoo-hooh, wee-i-woo!", "keé-keé-keé-kee-kee-kee-kew-kew-kew", and a "long series of sweeping 'weekweekweek---' notes". It makes a wide variety of calls; the most frequent are "peeyk" (or "PWEEK!"), "stieek", and "squeeeik". Others include "sweeuh", "chauhh", "cheeng, cheeng", and "pooo".

Conservation

Population trend

declining