Zimmer's Woodcreeper
Dendroplex kienerii
Medium-sized, slim woodcreeper with a longish tail and shortish bill. Note the whitish eyebrow. Has a streaked head and upper back. Breast streaks have a triangular shape and dark edges. Inhabits the interior of seasonally flooded forests and forests on river islands; forages at middle levels, often accompanying mixed-species flocks. Sings a fast trill: “tr’r’r’r’r’r’r’r’r’r’r.” The similar, commoner Straight-billed Woodcreeper has a straighter, paler, and thicker bill, shorter tail, and slower song.
Identification
Zimmer's woodcreeper is 21 to 24 cm (8.3 to 9.4 in) long and weighs 40 to 50 g (1.4 to 1.8 oz). It is a slim, medium-sized woodcreeper with a short bill whose culmen curves gently down to a sharp tip. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have whitish lores and supercilium on a blackish and white streaked face. Their crown is grayish brown with light buffy spots and blackish tips on the feathers. Their nape is lighter and browner with fuzzy streaks. Their back and wing coverts are dark brown to reddish brown with narrow streaks only on the upper back. Their rump is light rufous-chestnut. Their flight feathers and tail are darker rufous-chestnut, and their flight feathers have dusky blackish tips. Their throat is whitish with a trace of buffy and thin dusky streaking on the sides. Their breast is cinnamon-brown with buff triangular streaks that have blackish edges; the streaks disappear by the more rufescent belly. Their undertail coverts are rufescent with wide buffy streaks, and their underwing coverts are light ochraceous-buff. Their iris is light brown to dark brownish gray and is surrounded by a mustard-yellow eyering. Their bill is grayish horn to whitish with a dusky base to the maxilla. Their legs and feet are bluish gray to dull brownish slate. Juveniles are similar to adults but duller overall, with less distinct spots and streaks and a blackish bill.
Taxonomy
Zimmer's woodcreeper was originally described as Dendrornis kienerii. In 1934 Zimmer described what he believed was a new species, naming it Xiphorhynchus necopinus. By 2002 it was realized that the species was actually the earlier-described D. kienerii, so by the principle of priority, the specific epithet reverted to kienerii. In the 1950s genus Dendroplex had been merged into genus Xyphorhynchus but in the early 2000s it was resurrected for this species and the straight-billed woodcreeper (D. picus).<p>Zimmer's woodcreeper is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Dendroplex kienerii
- Authority
- (des Murs, 1856)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Dendroplex
Range and habitat
Zimmer's woodcreeper is found along the Amazon River from extreme southeastern Colombia and northeastern Peru into Brazil to near the mouth of the Rio Tapajós, and also along major Amazon tributaries to the north and as far south as Rondônia. It almost exclusively inhabits seasonally flooded várzea and igapó forest along the rivers; it also inhabits river islands. It favors the interior of the forest but also occurs at its edges and in mature secondary forest. In elevation it generally reaches only about as high as 200 m (700 ft) but occurs up to 400 m (1,300 ft) in Colombia.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Zimmer's woodcreeper is believed to be a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>Details of the diet of Zimmer's woodcreeper are not known; it is assumed to be mostly arthropods. It usually forages singly and often joins mixed-species feeding flocks on islands. It creeps up trunks and branches between the forest's mid-level and subcanopy and sometimes into the canopy. It probably captures most of its prey by gleaning from bark surfaces or crevices; it has been observed pecking rotting wood and the tunnels of arboreal termites.<p>The breeding season of Zimmer's woodcreeper includes April but essentially nothing else is known about its breeding biology.<p>Zimmer's woodcreeper sings on and off throughout the day. Its song is "a rapid series of high-frequency notes described as 'tr’r’r’r’r’r’r’r’r’r’r' " and also as a "very high, fast, almost level series of 'i' notes".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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