Pernambuco Foliage-gleaner

Automolus lammi

Cinnamon above and paler below; note the striking white throat and pale eyes. Found in the understory of a precious few patches of humid forest and old second growth, where it usually accompanies mixed-species flocks. The song is a vigorous fast series of 4–6 harsh nasal “ki-dee” notes. The similar-looking but geographically distant White-eyed Foliage-gleaner’s song is very different (a fast series of 5–7 slurred notes).

Identification

The Pernambuco foliage-gleaner is 19 to 20 cm (7.5 to 7.9 in) long. It is a fairly large member of its genus and has a heavy bill. The sexes have the same plumage, which is similar to that of the formerly conspecific white-eyed foliage-gleaner. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dark brownish face with faint reddish streaks on the ear coverts, grizzled reddish brown and buffy lores, and a white malar area. Their crown is dark brown with narrow rufous streaks. Their back and rump are dark brown that blends to rufous uppertail coverts. Their wings are dark rufous with pale cinnamon at the bend. Their tail is bright rufous. Their throat and the sides of their neck are white with a yellow tinge, with a fairly sharp contrast with the creamy olive-buff breast and belly. The sides of their breast and flanks are brownish and their undertail coverts pale rufous. Their iris is whitish, their bill darkish, and their legs and feet grayish.

Taxonomy

The Pernambuco foliage-gleaner was previously treated as a subspecies of the white-eyed foliage-gleaner (A. leucophthalmus). Following a 2008 publication, major taxonomic systems elevated it to species rank. <p>The Pernambuco foliage-gleaner, white-eyed foliage-gleaner, olive-backed foliage-gleaner (A. infuscatus), and Para foliage-gleaner (A. paraensis) form a superspecies.

Scientific name
Automolus lammi
Authority
Zimmer, JT, 1947
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Furnariidae
Genus
Automolus

Range and habitat

The Pernambuco foliage-gleaner is found in the Pernambuco Center of Endemism, in the far eastern Brazilian states of Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, and Sergipe. It inhabits tropical evergreen forest and mature secondary forest. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to about 550 m (1,800 ft).

Migration
Resident species

Behavior

The Pernambuco foliage-gleaner is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>Details about the Pernambuco foliage-gleaner's diet are lacking, though it is known to feed on arthropods. It usually forages as part of a mixed-species feeding flock, and tends to mostly stay low in dense growth in the forest's understory. It gleans and pulls its prey from dead leaves, debris, and epiphytes.<p>Nothing is known about the Pernambuco foliage-gleaner's breeding biology.<p>The Pernambuco foliage-gleaner's song is what sets it apart from the white-eyed foliage-gleaner. It is "a strident series of 2–11 closely spaced (3–4/second), frequency-modulated notes or doublets, each with a particularly harsh, grating quality, but each doublet comprised a harsh note and a sharp thin note". Its call is loud "weck" notes that may be uttered up to 20 times. It also makes "kwek" and "kwek-kwaah" calls that are like those of the white-eyed foliage-gleaner.

Conservation

Population trend
declining

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

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A rare, powerful raptor of hill and montane forest edge and clearings. Black upperparts and white underparts with fine black barring on the flanks. Yellow legs, eyes and base to the bill. Takes a variety of prey by swooping down on them in flight, especially pigeons. Adult common morph unlikely to be confused with any other montane species, but rare black morph very similar to black morph Chestnut-shouldered Goshawk and juvenile similar to the species too, although Meyer’s Goshawk has a dark eye rather than a yellow eye. Call described as a series of loud upslurred screeches.

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