Peruvian Recurvebill
Syndactyla ucayalae
Reddish-brown bird with a distinctive upturned bill. Found almost exclusively in bamboo thickets, but occasionally also in dense viny areas. Forages singly or in pairs in the under- and midstory, using its bill to pry open holes in dead bamboo to find insects. Its song is a deep accelerating rattle “tick-ti-tr-trrrrrrrrrrrrr” that crescendos.
Identification
The Peruvian recurvebill is 19 to 20 cm (7.5 to 7.9 in) long and weighs 39 to 55 g (1.4 to 1.9 oz). It is a largish furnariid with a heavy, wedge-shaped, slightly upturned, bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a faint narrow rufous supercilium, grizzled grayish, brownish, and dark buff lores and ear coverts, and a reddish rufous malar area. Their crown is dark reddish brown with faint streaks on the forehead. Their uppperparts are reddish brown with a slightly more reddish collar. Their wings are dark reddish brown with dark ochraceous at the bend. Their tail is dark reddish chestnut. Their throat is orange-rufous with faint paler streaks at its lower edge, their breast orange-rufous with faint paler streaks, their belly slightly duller than the breast and minimally streaked, and their flanks and undertail coverts darker orange-rufous than the breast. Their iris is brown to dark brown, their maxilla grayish horn to grayish brown, their mandible gray to silvery-bluish, and their legs and feet olive to olive-green. Juveniles have a brighter supercilium than adults, with whitish lores. Their crown is darker, with dark rufescent spots. Their back is darker and less rufescent and their underparts paler but with a strong black scalloped pattern.
Taxonomy
The Peruvian recurvebill and its sister species the Bolivian recurvebill (S. striata) were previously placed in genus Simoxenops. Their vocalizations and behavior strongly suggested the two species belonged in Syndactyla, and that placement was confirmed by genetic study.<p>The Peruvian recurvebill is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Syndactyla ucayalae
- Authority
- (Chapman, 1928)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Syndactyla
Range and habitat
The Peruvian recurvebill is found in the western Amazon Basin of southeastern Peru, northern Bolivia, and far western Brazil, and also locally in isolated areas further east in Amazonian Brazil. It is a bamboo specialist, inhabiting tropical lowland evergreen forest and riverside forest in and near thickets of Guadua bamboo. It also locally occurs in riverside thickets of Gynerium cane. In elevation it reaches 1,300 m (4,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Peruvian recurvebill is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The Peruvian recurvebill feeds on a variety of arthropods including spiders, beetle larvae, and earwigs. It typically forages singly or in pairs and occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It mostly forages in dense undergrowth in the forest's understory, but will rarely also feed up to the mid-storey. It does most of its feeding on bamboo and lesser amounts on cane, vines, and other plants. It finds its prey by hammering, excavating, flaking, and gleaning.<p>Nothing is known about the Peruvian recurvebill's breeding biology.<p>The Peruvian recurvebill's song is a "short, loud, harsh, ascending rattle (2-3 sec), last note(s) sometimes lowered". Its call is "a loud, hoarse, irritated, low-pitched 'chack' ".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Eyebrowed Wren-Babbler
Napothera epilepidota
While furtive, this tiny skulker is distinctive if seen well. Short-tailed and large-headed in profile, somewhat like a vole or shrew. Brown with a pale throat, white eyebrow, and white speckling on the upper body. Both undersides and uppersides are streaked with white, though the prominence of this streaking depends on the lighting. Appearance varies slightly across range. Song, composed of a single airy monotone or slightly falling whistle repeated at 3- to 5-second intervals, is hauntingly ventriloquial. Found in tropical and subtropical evergreen forests with dense understoreys, from lowlands up into submontane areas.
Chestnut-breasted Partridge
Arborophila mandellii
Ornate partridge of east Himalayan foothill forests. Often in areas with dense bamboo stands. Note black-and-white “necklace” and dark rusty-red head and chest. Like many other Arborophila partridges, can be elusive and difficult to see in the gloom of the forest floor; instead, listen for its song, a far-carrying slow series of rising whistles or short whistled phrases, often slightly burry.
Hume's Treecreeper
Certhia manipurensis
Physically almost identical to Sikkim Treecreeper, but throat pale tan-orange instead gray. Bright contrasting rusty tail distinguishes it from other treecreepers in its range. A species of foothill to montane and submontane regions; averages lower in elevational range than Sikkim Treecreeper, with minimal to no range overlap. Favors broadleaf evergreen and mixed forests. Occasionally found in mixed-species flocks. Song is slower than that of Sikkim Treecreeper, a rather slow ringing trill composed of paired notes; calls include an echoing two-note “tsijew” and a high “tzit.”
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.