Montane Foliage-gleaner
Anabacerthia striaticollis
Fairly small brownish bird of Andean foothills and subtropical zone from Venezuela to Bolivia. Rather plain overall with obvious pale eyering and eyebrow, giving it a spectacled appearance. Pale throat is slightly scaled; breast streaking is faint or absent. A regular member of mixed-species flocks in cloud forest, usually staying at low or middle levels. Typical foliage-gleaner behavior, hopping along limbs and investigating clumps of moss and dead leaves.
Identification
The montane foliage-gleaner is 16 to 17 cm (6.3 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 22 to 28 g (0.78 to 0.99 oz). It is a medium-sized furnariid with a wedge-shaped bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies A. s. striaticollis have a mostly dark brown face with some pale flecks and a wide pale tawny-buff eyering that extends as a streak behind the eye. Their crown, nape, and upper back are dull dark brown with a hint of buff spots. The rest of their back and rump are rich brown and their uppertail coverts are a slightly paler brown. Their tail is rufous with bare shafts at the very end of the feathers. Their wings are mostly rich rufescent brown. Their chin and throat are pale tawny-buff with brown flecks on the chin. Their breast is light brown with blurry buff streaks, their belly unstreaked medium brown, and their flanks slightly darker brown with a rufescent tinge. Their iris is brown to dark brown, their bill grayish horn to olive-gray whose mandible is sometimes lighter, and their legs and feet yellowish brown. Juveniles have a darker crown, a more prominent eyering, and are overall more rufous than adults.<p>Subspecies A. s. anxia's eyering, postocular stripe, throat, and breast are more yellowish buff than the nominate's, and its uppertail coverts are the same rufous as the tail. A. s. perijana is paler than the nominate, with a more yellowish brown back, yellowish throat, and more yellowish olive underparts. Compared to the other subspecies, A. s. venezuelana has a grayer crown, a browner back, and more grayish brown breast and belly, with rufous uppertail coverts and a whitish throat. A. s. montana has a browner crown than the nominate with a darker and more rufescent back, a more chestnut tail, and more prominent streaks on the breast. A. s. yungae is more reddish overall than the nominate, with a darker and unstreaked crown. Both montana and yungae exhibit clinal variation.
Taxonomy
The montane foliage-gleaner has these six subspecies:<p>Some authors in the early twentieth century treated the montane foliage-gleaner and the scaly-throated foliage-gleaner (A. variegaticeps) as conspecific. Later they were considered to form a superspecies but by the early 2000s it was determined that they are not even sister species.
- Scientific name
- Anabacerthia striaticollis
- Authority
- Lafresnaye, 1841
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Anabacerthia
Range and habitat
The subspecies of the montane foliage-gleaner are found thus:<p>The montane foliage-gleaner inhabits montane evergreen forest in the subtropical and foothill zones. In elevation it mostly ranges between 900 and 2,300 m (3,000 and 7,500 ft) though it reaches 2,800 m (9,200 ft) in Colombia. In Ecuador its range has a narrower 1,000 to 1,800 m (3,300 to 5,900 ft) span, and in Peru it occurs as low as 750 m (2,500 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Black-bellied Tanager
Ramphocelus melanogaster
Found only in northern Peru, where it mostly replaces the very similar Silver-beaked Tanager in several river valleys in the foothills of the eastern Andes. Male is distinguished by his bright red sides and rump. Females of the two species are almost identical, though Black-bellied tends to be brighter red and have a darker throat. Inhabits lightly wooded areas and forest edge.
Ochre-lored Flatbill
Tolmomyias flaviventris
Small, yellowish-olive flycatcher that ranges mainly in northern and eastern South America as well eastern Panama. Distinguishing features include its yellow throat and breast, orange face, thick wingbars, and wide bill. Similar to Olive-faced Flycatcher, which used to be considered the same species and called Yellow-breasted Flycatcher. Note their different ranges, which mostly do not overlap. Ochre-lored Flycatcher has a brighter face with a hint of orange, more distinct wingbars, and has a different voice. Its most common call is a piercing whistle given alone or in a slow series. Occasionally also gives well-spaced rasping calls. Inhabits secondary forest and light woodland, usually avoiding the interior of mature forest.
Black-billed Barbet
Lybius guifsobalito
A medium-sized black barbet with a mostly red head. With a good look, pale edges to the wing feathers are visible. Found at middle elevations in woodland, scrub, and cultivated areas, usually in pairs or small groups. Similar to Red-faced Barbet, but ranges don’t overlap, and Black-billed is easily separated by much more extensive red on the head. The vocalizations include a low growling and an explosive series of two-syllabled “KOOP-pup” phrases.
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