Ocellated Woodcreeper
Xiphorhynchus ocellatus
A medium-sized woodcreeper, found primarily in western Amazonia, south of the Amazon river. Lacks any truly distinctive visual features. Shows variable buffy streaking on head, back, and breast, and a scaly buffy throat. Bill is rather straight and typically dark grayish or silvery. Most easily identified by voice, a descending series of rather nasal notes, sometimes with a stuttered pattern. Typically seen singly or in pairs, often accompanying mixed-species flocks in the understory or mid-levels. Occurs in the lowlands and into the foothills of the Andes, usually in mature forest.
Identification
The ocellated woodcreeper is 20 to 24.5 cm (7.9 to 9.6 in) long and weighs 24 to 42 g (0.85 to 1.5 oz). It is a slim, medium-sized woodcreeper with a long and nearly straight bill. The sexes are alike. Adults of the nominate subspecies X. o. ocellatus have a dark brown crown and nape with fine buff streaks on the crown. Their back is plain reddish brown to olive-brown, their rump and wings cinnamon-rufous, and their tail a darker cinnamon-rufous. Their throat is deep buff with darker edges to the feathers. Their underparts are olive-brown that becomes more rufescent on the undertail coverts. Their upper breast has large buff "teardrops" with weak darker borders, their lower breast has weak buff streaks, and their belly is unmarked. Their iris is dark brown, their bill blackish with a pale gray mandible, and their legs and feet gray. Juveniles are similar to adults but with heavier markings on their underparts.<p>The other subspecies of the ocellated woodcreeper differ from the nominate and each other thus:
Taxonomy
The ocellated woodcreeper's taxonomy is unsettled. The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (SACC) and the Clements taxonomy have long treated it as a species with seven subspecies. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) formerly treated it as a species with four subspecies; the other three were treated as Tschudi's woodcreeper (X. chunchotambo). In July 2023 the IOC lumped Tschudi's into the ocellated woodcreeper, resulting in the same treatment as that of the SACC and Clements.<p>The seven subspecies recognized by these taxonomic systems are:<p>However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) considers only X. o. perplexus and X. o. ocellatus as the ocellated woodcreeper. It retains X. o. napensis, X. o. chunchotambo, and X. o. brevirostris as Tschudi's woodcreepr and treatsX. o. lineatocapilla and X. o. beauperthuysii as the line-crowned woodcreeper.<p>This article follows the single species, seven-subspecies, model.
- Scientific name
- Xiphorhynchus ocellatus
- Authority
- (Spix, 1824)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Dendrocolaptidae
- Genus
- Xiphorhynchus
Range and habitat
The subspecies of the ocellated woodcreeper are found thus:<p>The ocellated woodcreeper primarily inhabits evergreen forest. Most of the subspecies favor terra firme forest and are also found in várzea, other seasonally flooded forest types, and wooded swamps. The three "Tschudi's" subspecies are found in terra firme but are more common in montane forest and cloudforest. All prefer the interior of mature forest but also occur at its edges and in secondary forest. The species mostly occurs at elevations below 500 m (1,600 ft) but reaches 1,800 m (5,900 ft) in the Andes.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The ocellated woodcreeper is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The ocellated woodcreeper's diet has not been fully described but is believed to be primarily arthropods. Single birds and pairs frequently join mixed-species foraging flocks and occasionally follow army ant swarms. The species hitches up trunks and along branches, mostly from the forest's understory to its sub-canopy. It takes most of its prey from bark, by picking and probing. It also sometimes probes vegetation like epiphytes.<p>Essentially nothing is known about the ocellated woodcreeper's breeding biology.<p>The ocellated woodcreeper sings mostly at dawn and dusk, and usually gives only a few songs then. Its song varies geographically. For instance, in eastern Ecuador it is "a fast series of nasal notes...'whe-whe-whe-whe-whe-chéchécheow' ". In much of Brazil it is a "short, fast, descending, rattling series of notes" and in other parts "a rapid trill...'re-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-eet' ". In Peru it is "a quiet, accelerating series...e.g. 'hee-ee-ee-i’i’i’i’i’i’ chee’ee’ee tree’ee’ee tree’ee’ee' ". The species also has a wide variety of calls.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Ruff
Calidris pugnax
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Phylloscopus whistleri
One of a confusingly similar complex of species, this medium-sized warbler has a bright yellow eye-ring, a pale and indistinct wingbar, and a grayish crown bordered by two long black stripes. The weakness and greenish cast of the gray crown separates this species from various other “golden-spectacled”-type warblers, such as Gray-crowned. Golden-spectacled Warbler is very similar; in Whistler’s, look out for an unbroken eye-ring, a shorter bill, a longer tail, and slightly duller green upperparts. Whistler’s breeds in high-altitude temperate broadleaf forest from around 2000 meters up to the treeline; averages higher in altitudinal breeding preferences than Golden-spectacled Warbler. Like other “golden-spectacled”-type warblers, Whistler’s typically forages at lower and middle levels of forest, often mixing with other species and making flycatching sallies. Song consists of a 2- or 3-noted whistled phrase repeated 2-3 times without pause, lacking the trills of Golden-spectacled Warbler.
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