Ochraceous Wren
Troglodytes ochraceus
Tiny short-tailed wren, plain warm brown with brighter buffy face and bold buffy eyebrow. Found in highland forests, where it can be seen sneaking up tree trunks and through vine tangles in search of insects. Often follows mixed feeding flocks. Similar to House Wren, but note warmer color and eyebrow. Listen for song, a high-pitched musical jumble of tinkling notes and short trills.
Identification
The adult ochraceous wren is 9.5 to 10 cm (3.7 to 3.9 in) long and weighs 8 to 10 g (0.28 to 0.35 oz). The nominate subspecies sensu stricto has a rich medium brown crown and back with a rufous cast to the rump. The tail is brown with blackish bars. It has a bold yellowish buff supercilium that extends to the nape. Its chin, throat, and upper chest are buffy brown, its lower breast and upper belly buffy white, and its flanks and lower belly darker buffy brown. T. o. ligea, when treated separately, is duller than the nominate and has a heavier bill. T. o. festinus is smaller and lighter below than the nominate and also has a larger bill.
Taxonomy
The ochraceous wren was previously considered to be a subspecies of mountain wren (Troglodytes solstitialis). The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes two subspecies, the nominate Troglodytes ochraceus ochraceus and T. o. festinus. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World and the Clements taxonomy split T. o. ligea from the nominate subspecies.
- Scientific name
- Troglodytes ochraceus
- Authority
- Ridgway, 1882
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Troglodytidae
- Genus
- Troglodytes
Range and habitat
According to the IOC, the nominate subspecies of ochraceous wren is found in the Costa Rica highlands from the Tilarán Mountains to the Talamanca ranges and in western and central Panama. Cornell and Clements treat the Panamanian population as T. o. ligea and confine T. o. ochraceus to Costa Rica. All three place T. o. festinus in eastern Panama; Cornell, Clements, and the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (SACC/AOS) note its occurrence in adjacent northwestern Colombia as well.<p>The ochraceous wren primarily inhabits wet epiphyte-laden montane forest, and also semi-open areas such as woodland edges, tall second growth, and pastures with trees. In elevation it usually ranges between 900 and 2,450 m (2,950 and 8,040 ft) but has occasionally been recorded as low as 600 m (2,000 ft) and as high as 3,000 m (9,800 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The ochraceous wren mostly forages on mossy tree trunks and in epiphytes. Its prey is small invertebrates.<p>The ochraceous wren's nesting period apparently spans from April to July in Costa Rica. Skutch (1960) found three nests; all were constructed in a mass of epiphytes and debris on a hanging, partially detached, branch 40 to 50 ft (12 to 15 m) above ground. Families of two adults and two young have been observered.<p>The ochraceous wren's song is "a rather subdued medley of varied liquid trills and high, thin slurred whistles" and it calls "a rolling, thin high-pitched 'peeer' or 'peeew' and low, weak 'churr'."
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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Ovambo Sparrowhawk
Accipiter ovampensis
Medium-sized sparrowhawk that is normally gray, but there is a rare black morph. In all plumages, shows diagnostic white streaks along the central part of the tail, but these are hard to see. The legs and the base of the bill are yellow to reddish. On the typical gray birds, there is gray barring below which is finer and denser on the chest and throat than in other gray sparrowhawks. Generally rare in thick woodland, savanna, plantations, and gallery forest. Call is a repeated “chyek.”
Pale-eyed Thrush
Turdus leucops
This scarce thrush is found in forests of the subtropical zone from Venezuela to Bolivia, usually at elevations from 1,000–2,000 m. Males are dark black with a staring pale eye and orange bill and legs. Females are rich dark brown with a dark bill, no eyering, and some pale mottling on the belly. To separate from other similar thrushes, especially note the lack of an eyering on both sexes. Not frequently encountered. Males perch at the top of a tree when singing; listen for the squeaky and complex thrushlike song. Otherwise most likely to be seen at a fruiting tree within the forest.
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