Firewood-gatherer
Anumbius annumbi
Small ovenbird species with brown streaks above and faded buff-streaks below. Note the rufous forehead and white eyebrow and throat. Usually seen in pairs on the edge of woodlands and open areas like savannas, grasslands, and pastures near farms where it builds huge stick/thorn nests. The song, normally delivered as a duet, is a series of fast trilled notes.
Identification
The firewood-gatherer is 18 to 20 cm (7.1 to 7.9 in) long and weighs 27 to 45 g (0.95 to 1.6 oz). It is an unusual furnariid that somewhat resembles a pipit. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a wide whitish supercilium and a medium brownish stripe behind the eye on an otherwise light brownish to grayish brown face. Their forehead is dull rufous and their crown dull brown or sandy brown. Their back is dull brown, their rump dull pale brown, and their uppertail coverts dark brownish with lighter brownish edges. Their crown has narrow blackish streaks that almost disappear on the hindneck and upper back but then become longer and wider on the lower back. Their wings are mostly dull brown with some darker centers on the coverts and darker tips on the flight feathers. Their tail's central pair of feathers are pointed and dark brownish; the rest are less pointed and blackish brown with varying amounts of white near their ends. Their throat is white with a line of black speckles on its side. Their upper breast is a slightly reddish light brown and whitish buff with blurry streaks that fade by the pale buffy belly and undertail coverts. Their flanks are darker sandy brown. Their iris is brown to reddish, their maxilla dull brownish, their mandible gray to light gray with a dark tip, and their legs and feet gray to greenish gray to creamy gray. Juveniles have no rufous on their forehead, an ochraceous throat, and less distinct streaks on the upperparts and darker underparts than adults.
Taxonomy
The firewood-gatherer is genetically most closely related to the lark-like brushrunner (Coryphistera alaudina), and they may be sister species. The firewood-gatherer is the only member of its genus and is monotypic: No subspecies are recognized.
- Scientific name
- Anumbius annumbi
- Authority
- (Vieillot, 1817)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Anumbius
Range and habitat
The firewood-gatherer is found in Brazil from Goiás and Minas Gerais south through Rio Grande do Sul, central and eastern Paraguay, essentially all of Uruguay, and northern Argentina from Formosa and Misiones provinces south to Río Negro Province. It inhabits a wide variety of open landscapes including seasonally wet and other grasslands, pastures and agricultural fields, savanna, scrublands, the edges of open woodlands, and stands of trees near farmhouses. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: rising.
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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A small and relatively slim black chat. There is some geographical variation: males can show a small white patch on the forehead, or a larger one that covers most of the crown. In some areas, males also have a white shoulder patch. Females vary from being completely black to having a gray throat and sometimes a gray forehead. Found in open savanna, often in rocky and/or recently burned areas. Similar to Sooty Chat and Northern Anteater-Chat, but smaller, and male can always be identified by the white forehead patch. The song is long, chatty, and musical.
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