Plain-breasted Piculet
Picumnus castelnau
Relatively plain piculet found in dense riverine and secondary vegetation along the Amazon and its tributaries in Peru, barely making it into southernmost Colombia and westernmost Brazil. Plumage generally pale below with a brownish back. Note the dark spots in the ear coverts; the short, sharp bill; and the glossy red feathers in the male’s crown. Song is a very high-pitched series of thin whistles, dropping at the end.
Identification
The plain-breasted piculet is 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in) long and weighs about 11 to 12 g (0.39 to 0.42 oz). Adult males have a black crown with red tips on the feathers. The sides of their crown and their nape are whitish with faint black speckles or bars. Their face is mostly light brown with some gray and whitish vermiculation. Their upperparts are grayish olive. Their flight feathers are brown with greenish yellow edges on the secondaries. Their tail is black; the innermost pair and outer three pairs of feathers have white inner webs. Their underparts are unmarked dull yellowish white. Their iris is brown, the beak black with a blue-gray base to the mandible, and the legs greenish yellow to bluish gray. Adult females are identical but with an entirely black crown. Juveniles are duller than adults and have faint barring on the upper- and underparts.
Taxonomy
The plain-breasted piculet is monotypic. Its position within genus Picumnus is not positively known, but some authors consider it and the fine-barred piculet (P. subtilis) to be sister species and they might hybridize.
- Scientific name
- Picumnus castelnau
- Authority
- Malherbe, 1862
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Picidae
- Genus
- Picumnus
Range and habitat
The plain-breasted piculet is found along the Ucayali and upper Amazon rivers. Most of its range is in Peru but it extends very slightly through extreme southeastern Colombia into extreme western Brazil. It mostly inhabits forest on river islands and the river banks, but also occurs in nearby secondary forest and occasionally in vegetation on the edges of pastures and gardens. It is most common in the canopy of young Cecropia, Cassia, and Mimosa trees on islands. In elevation it occurs as high as 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The plain-breasted piculet forages for its diet of small insects on slender branches and stems, usually about 6 to 15 m (20 to 49 ft) above the ground but sometimes lower along forest edges. It hops along and among the branches, picking, tapping, and probing for its prey. It is typically seen singly, in pairs, or in groups of up to four individuals that are thought to be families. It also sometimes joins mixed species foraging flocks.<p>The plain-breasted piculet's breeding season appears to include at least from May to July. It is assumed to nest in small cavities like other piculets, but essentially nothing is known about its breeding biology.<p>The plain-breasted piculet's song is "a high-pitched, rapid, falling trill: tree'e'e'e'e'e'e." It makes soft tapping sounds while foraging.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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