Cabanis's Wren
Cantorchilus modestus
Small, skulking wren of foothills and lowlands in southern Mexico and Central America. Found in forest edges, second-growth thickets, and brushy fields with cane grass. Heard more often than seen: song relatively short with bright phrases usually repeated a few times in quick succession. Note the bold white eyebrow, whitish breast, rich buffy flanks, and bright rusty tail barred black. Formerly known as Plain Wren.
Identification
Cabanis's wren is 12.5 to 14 cm (4.9 to 5.5 in) long. Two males weighed 17.8 and 19.1 g (0.63 and 0.67 oz) and two females 16.0 and 16.6 g (0.56 and 0.59 oz). Adults have a dark gray-brown crown, a rufous-brown back, an orange-rufous rump, and a rufescent brown tail with narrow darker bars. They have a white supercilium, a gray-brown stripe behind the eye, and cheeks mottled gray-brown and gray-white. Their throat is white, the chest pale grayish buff, and the belly buffy white between orange-buff flanks. Individuals in the far northern part of the species' range tend to be darker and less rufous on the back. Immatures are a duller version of the adult.
Taxonomy
Cabanis's wren, with what are now the canebrake wren (C. zeledoni) and the isthmian wren (C. elutus), were called the plain wren. The three were split from each other in 2016 on the basis of a 2015 publication that described their different vocalizations and genetic divergence. Cabanis's wren is monotypic according to the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy. However, BirdLife International (BLI) retains C. modestus as "plain wren" with elutus as a subspecies of it rather than as a full species.
- Scientific name
- Cantorchilus modestus
- Authority
- (Cabanis, 1861)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Troglodytidae
- Genus
- Cantorchilus
Range and habitat
Cabanis's wren is found from the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas south through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua to the Pacific side of central Costa Rica. It inhabits both dry and humid areas, occurring in a variety of surroundings including forest edges, second growth, and gardens. In elevation it ranges from sea level to approximately 2,000 m (6,600 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Cabanis's wren usually forages in pairs in low dense vegetation, though it occasionally will hunt higher in trees. Its diet is mostly insects and spiders.<p>The nest of Cabanis's wren is roughly football-shaped with an entrance hole on the side. It is constructed of grass and other vegetable fibers, lined with softer material, and placed in dense vegetation within 3 m (9.8 ft) of the ground. The usual clutch size is two though clutches of three eggs are known.<p>The song of Cabanis's wren is "a loud motif of 3–4 clear whistles" [1]. Its calls include a "harsh 'chur' [2] and a "rippling, tinkling 'chi-cho-chi'" [3].
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Fine-banded Woodpecker
Campethera taeniolaema
Fairly large green-backed woodpecker, with fine barring across the underparts and face. Found in moist montane forest, mostly above 1500m elevation. Very quiet bird that occasionally gives a “kwee” call. Similar to Fine-spotted Woodpecker, but found in different habitat, lacks a red or black stripe on the face, and also lacks barring in the wing and tail.
Yellow-throated Woodland-Warbler
Phylloscopus ruficapilla
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Brown Sicklebill
Epimachus meyeri
A large, long-tailed bird of montane forest with a long, curved bill. Male has black upperparts with some iridescence, brown underparts and very long tail. Female is brown above with rufous crown, barred belly and black face. Male does an astonishing display, where two articulated fans are lifted above the head and the whole body is swayed up and down. Similar to Black Sicklebill, but Brown is usually found at higher elevations and has a pale blue eye. Male has brown and female a barred chest. Voice, sounds scarily like short bursts of a machine gunfire.
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