Chestnut Piculet
Picumnus cinnamomeus
A distinctive mostly unmarked, brownish-red piculet with black crown spotted white or yellow and creamy forehead. Unique in range, where the only mostly brown piculet. Uncommon to fairly common in dry areas with scrub, forest, and mangrove edges; also locally in humid forest borders. Found singly, in pairs, or small groups foraging in vine tangles in understory. Voice is a high-pitched trill “i’i’i’i’i’i’i’i’i’i’i’i’I” and a series of 3-6 high-pitched whistled notes.
Identification
The chestnut piculet is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long. Adult males of the nominate subspecies P. c. cinnamomeus have a pale creamy forehead, a black crown with yellow-tipped feathers, and a black nape with white-tipped feathers. The rest of their body is deep rufous to rusty brown, with the rump and belly being a bit paler than the rest. Their wings are dark brown with cinnamon to rufous edges and tips to the feathers. Their tail is brownish black; the innermost pair of feathers have a cinnamon stripe on the inner webs and the outer two pairs a cinnamon stripe on the outer webs. Their iris is brown, the beak blackish, the bare skin around the eye yellow, and the legs gray. Adult females are identical but with no yellow on the crown and white spots only on the hindcrown and nape.<p>Subspecies P. c. persaturatus is a richer and darker chestnut than the nominate, and has brighter wing edging and less defined chestnut stripes on the tail. Its females have white spots on their entire crown. P. c. perijanus is similar to persaturatus but a little lighter, and the female's crown spotting is heavier. P. c. venezuelensis is as dark as persaturatus but with a cinnamon-tawny forehead, and the female has white spots only on the crown, not the nape.
Taxonomy
The International Ornithological Committee assigns the chestnut piculet these four subspecies: <p>BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World and the Clements taxonomy split a fifth subspecies, P. c. larensis (Aveledo, 1998), from P. c. venezuelensis.<p>This article follows the four-subspecies model.
- Scientific name
- Picumnus cinnamomeus
- Authority
- Wagler, 1829
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Picumnus
Range and habitat
The subspecies of the chestnut piculet are found thus:<p>The chestnut piculet inhabits a wide variety of landscapes including rainforest, deciduous forest, open areas with scattered trees, arid and semi-arid scrublands, mangroves, and coffee plantations. Thorny woodlands appear to be its favorite. In elevation it occurs from sea level to 100 m (330 ft) in Venezuela and to 300 m (980 ft) in Colombia.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The chestnut piculet is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The chestnut piculet forages actively at all levels of it habitat but tends to stay in dense vegetation. It is typically seen singly, in pairs, or in small family groups and joins mixed species foraging flocks. Its diet has not been studied but is assumed to be ants and other small insects.<p>The chestnut piculet's breeding season appears to include at least from December to March, but nothing else is known about its breeding biology.<p>The chestnut piculet's song is "a series of 3-8 high-pitched notes ti.ti.ti.ti.ti descending in pitch".
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Northern Barred-Woodcreeper
Dendrocolaptes sanctithomae
Uncommon, rather large woodcreeper of humid tropical forest; infrequently seen away from ant swarms. Found singly or in twos and threes, often with Tawny-winged and Ruddy Woodcreepers at army ant swarms. Perches upright on trunks at all levels; often rather sluggish. Often looks dark and plain overall, with dark mask and pale base to stout bill. Dark barring on head and body visible with good views. Loud whistled song given mainly around dawn, a whistled “too’ih tooh’ih.”
Little Hermit
Phaethornis longuemareus
Tiny, mostly warm brown hummingbird. Note distinctive curved bill; long, white central tail feathers; and dark brown throat. Found in understory of swampy forest, including second growth and abandoned plantations, primarily in coastal areas. Forages on nectar, visiting widely-spaced food sources and often seen flying between them in low, direct flight, giving a characteristic plaintive squeak. At close range, often detected by loud and erratic wing noise, like a large bee, as it weaves among understory plants. May pause briefly to investigate people. Males sing from low perches; song is a series of high, slurred notes with a distinctive pattern. Most similar to Reddish Hermit, but Little is much less rufous, lacks a black breast band, and is generally restricted to coastal swamp forests.
Black-breasted Barbet
Pogonornis rolleti
Large, mostly black barbet with a huge white bill. Note the black breast and the red, white, and black belly. Found locally in savanna, woodland, gardens, and secondary growth, often in the vicinity of figs and other fruiting trees. Usually in pairs or small groups. Gives rasping calls and a nasal yelping call. Somewhat similar to Bearded and Double-toothed Barbet, but easily separated by the black rather than red breast.
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