Short-billed Leaftosser
Sclerurus rufigularis
Small, brown bird of rainforest floor. Plumage overall dark chestnut brown with a paler throat and blackish tail; bill is thin and slightly decurved. A seldom-seen resident of tall humid forest, where it forages in leaf litter around old fallen logs, tree buttresses, and upturned root masses. Always on or near the ground, flicking leaves in search of insect prey. Usually encountered alone and does not follow mixed-species flocks. Most readily detected when flushed or disturbed, and may assess an observer from a low perch, giving a sharp squeaking call note and moving about nervously. Song, given infrequently, is a series of clear, descending, whistled notes with an impatient quality, sometimes ending in a hard rattle. Very similar to South American Leaftosser; Short-billed has shorter bill and is more uniformly brown on breast and belly, but a good view may be required to verify these marks.
Identification
The short-billed leaftosser is a stocky bird with a short tail, and has the shortest bill of the Sclerurus leaftossers. It is 15 to 16 cm (5.9 to 6.3 in) long and weighs 19 to 25 g (0.67 to 0.88 oz). The sexes are alike. The nominate subspecies S. r. rufigularis has a dark brown face, sometimes with paler lores and supercilium. Its crown is dark brown with a reddish cast. Its back is dark reddish brown, its rump chestnut-brown, and its uppertail coverts darker chestnut-brown. Its wings are dark reddish brown and its tail is sooty blackish with some faint reddish brown. Its throat and malar are dull orange-rufous that darkens and becomes richer on its upper breast, which has narrow pale streaks. The rest of its breast is darker still and becomes less chestnut to the rich reddish brown belly and flanks. Its iris is dark gray-brown to brown, its maxilla black to gray, its mandible bicolored, and its legs and feet black, brownish, or gray. Juveniles have a duller and browner rump but are otherwise like adults.<p>Subspecies S. r. fulvigularis is more olive-brown than reddish brown. It has a paler throat throat than the nominate and a darker upper breast with wider rufous streaks. S. r. brunnescens is similar to fulvigularis but darker and even less reddish. S. r. furfurosus is overall paler than the nominate.
Taxonomy
The short-billed leaftosser's taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) assign it these four subspecies:<p>The Clements taxonomy includes S. r. furfurosus within S. r. brunnescens.<p>This article follows the four-subspecies model.
- Scientific name
- Sclerurus rufigularis
- Authority
- Pelzeln, 1868
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Sclerurus
Range and habitat
The subspecies of the short-billed leaftosser are found thus:<p>The short-billed leaftosser inhabits lowland tropical terra firme evergreen forest. In elevation it ranges from near sea level up to 500 m (1,600 ft) in Brazil, is rare and local up to 300 m (1,000 ft) in Ecuador, and is found as high as 1,800 m (5,900 ft) in Colombia though usually lower.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The short-billed leaftosser is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The short-billed leaftosser forages mostly on the ground, flipping aside leaves and gleaning from the ground and leaf litter while hopping rather than walking. Its diet of invertebrates includes spiders, insect egg cases, ants, beetle larvae, adult beetles, and winged termites.<p>The short-billed leaftosser's breeding biology is almost unknown. It is assumed to nest in a burrow like others of its genus.<p>The short-billed leaftosser's song is "a high-pitched fast series of notes" that successively descend, ascend and accelerate, and become level and slower. Its call has been described as "suip" and as an extremely high "siew siew".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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