Beautiful Treerunner
Margarornis bellulus
Rare but unique within a tiny range near the border of Panama and Colombia. Small brown bird that hitches along mossy limbs in humid cloud forest. Look for a buffy eyebrow, a white throat, and pale spotting on the underparts. Sexes alike. Similar to Pearled Treerunner but no range overlap; also note duller brown (not rufous) upperparts. Typically seen singly or in pairs, often following a mixed-species flock.
Identification
The beautiful treerunner is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 18 to 19 g (0.63 to 0.67 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a buffish-white supercilium that extends to the nape, a dull reddish brown line behind the eye, dark brown ear coverts with whitish streaks, and a dark brown "moustache" with white spots that become stripes toward the neck. Their crown is olive brown and their upperparts and wing coverts warm olive-brown. Their flight feathers are dark fuscous with tawny-ochraceous edges. Their tail is dull reddish brown; the ends of the tail feathers lack barbs, giving a spiny appearance. Their throat is whitish and the rest of their underparts rufescent brown. Their upper breast has whitish oval spots with dark brown rims that become narrow stripes on the belly. Their iris is brown, their maxilla brownish, their mandible pinkish, and their legs and feet gray.
Taxonomy
Some authors have proposed that the beautiful treerunner and the pearled treerunner (M. squamiger) are conspecific or sister species, but these treatments were disproven in a 2011 publication.<p>The beautiful treerunner is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Margarornis bellulus
- Authority
- Nelson, 1912
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Margarornis
Range and habitat
The beautiful treerunner has a disjunct distribution within Panama. It is found in the Serranía de Majé of Panamá Province and in several ranges in the extreme east of Darién Province. It inhabits montane evergreen forest, mostly at elevations between 1,350 and 1,600 m (4,400 and 5,200 ft) but in a few places as low as 900 m (3,000 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The beautiful treerunner is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The beautiful treerunner feeds on arthropods. It usually forages as part of a mixed-species feeding flock. It acrobatically moves through the forest's subcanopy, gleaning prey from branches and epiphytes, sometimes while hanging upside down.<p>Nothing is known about the beautiful treerunner's breeding biology.<p>As of September 2023, xeno-canto and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library each had a single recording of a beautiful treerunner call and none of its song.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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