Stripe-throated Wren
Cantorchilus leucopogon
Fairly small dark wren. Look for black-and-white stripes on throat and cheek, warm brown underparts, and barred wings. Sexes similar. Found in humid forest from eastern Panama to northwest Ecuador. Singles or pairs are found in the lower to middle levels, sometimes accompanying a mixed-species flock. Listen for song consisting of high pure whistles.
Identification
The stripe-throated wren is 12 cm (4.7 in) long. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dark brown crown and upperparts; the latter are more rufescent on the rump. Their tail is reddish brown with narrow blackish bars. They have a grayish white supercilium. The rest of the face, chin, and throat have black and grayish white streaks that end abruptly at the deep reddish buff upper chest. That color continues and becomes darker and richer through the belly to the vent. Juveniles are similar to the adults but the facial and throat streaking is less well defined. C. l. grisescens is paler and grayer overall.
Taxonomy
The stripe-throated wren has at times been treated as conspecific with the stripe-breasted wren (Cantorchilus thoracicus) and the two form a superspecies. The species has two subspecies, the nominate C. l. leucopogon and C. l. grisescens.
- Scientific name
- Cantorchilus leucopogon
- Authority
- (Salvadori & Festa, 1899)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Troglodytidae
- Genus
- Cantorchilus
Range and habitat
The stripe-throated wren of subspecies C. l. grisescens is the more easterly of the two. It is found on the Caribbean slope of eastern Panama into northern Colombia. The nominate C. l. leucopogon is found on the Pacific slope, from eastern Panama south through western Colombia into western Ecuador. It inhabits the edges of várzea and secondary forests from sea level up to 900 m (3,000 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The stripe-throated wren forages in pairs, often as part of a mixed-species foraging flock. It typically hunts in thick vegetation between 3 and 10 m (9.8 and 32.8 ft) above the ground. Its diet has not been extensively documented but is known to include insects.<p>Little is known about the stripe-throated wren's breeding phenology. Its nest is "an untidy ball with side entrance, usually placed near end of small branch with little effort at concealment."<p>The stripe-throated wren's song is "a tuneless repetition of 2–3 notes, 'chi-chi-chi'".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Orangequit
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