Equatorial Graytail
Xenerpestes singularis
Streaky, warbler-like bird found in cloud forest along the east slope of the Andes in Ecuador and northern Peru. It has a gray back and wings, white underparts streaked with gray, and white eyebrows. Forehead is chestnut, but this can be very hard to see in the field. In foggy conditions, barred tail helps separate it from Gray-mantled Wren. Typically found in pairs that forage high in the canopy, and often joins mixed-species flocks. Song is a very long, gravelly chatter.
Identification
The equatorial greytail is about 11.5 cm (4.5 in) long and weighs about 12 g (0.42 oz). It is a tiny furnariid that resembles a warbler. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have buff and grayish grizzled lores and a thin buffy white supercilium on an otherwise grayish face. Their forecrown is rufous with black streaks and their rear crown, back, rump, and tail are olive-gray. Their wings are dusky with gray-brown coverts and thin medium brown edges to the flight feathers. Their underparts are creamy white with blurry gray streaks. Their iris is gray-brown, their maxilla slate gray to black, their mandible creamy to pale gray, and their legs and feet olive-brown. Juveniles differ from adults by having gray bars rather than streaks on their underparts.
Taxonomy
The equatorial greytail is monotypic. It shares genus Xenerpestes with the double-banded greytail (X. minlosi) and together they are sister species to the orange-fronted plushcrown (Metopothrix aurantiaca).
- Scientific name
- Xenerpestes singularis
- Authority
- (Taczanowski & Berlepsch, 1885)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Xenerpestes
Range and habitat
The equatorial greytail is found in the foothills of the east side of the Andes from Ecuador's Napo Province south slightly into northern Peru. It inhabits the interior and edges of humid montane forest. In elevation it ranges from 1,000 to 1,600 m (3,300 to 5,200 ft) in Ecuador and 1,050 to 1,700 m (3,400 to 5,600 ft) in Peru.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The equatorial greytail is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The equatorial greytail feeds on arthropods. It forages high in the forest's subcanopy and canopy. It forages singly, in pairs, and in small family groups and readily joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It gleans prey from foliage live and dead, sometimes hanging upside down on the underside of leaves, and also gleans from twigs and small branches.<p>The equatorial greytail's breeding season appears to start with nest building in January. The nest is a large ball of sticks suspended from a branch. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.<p>The equatorial greytail's song is "a long and dry, almost insect-like and somewhat reeling trill that lasts 5 or more seconds, 'tzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz' ". Its call is a dry "tsit".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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