Munchique Wood-Wren
Henicorhina negreti
A small, stub-tailed wren endemic to Colombia’s western Andes. It has a long, white eyebrow and a streaky face. Very similar to Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, but has very faint barring on the belly. This is very hard to see in the field, and usually voice is the best way to separate them. Munchique Wood-Wren’s song is slightly lower in pitch and the notes are flatter and less squeaky. Inhabits cloud forest understory, usually at higher elevations than Gray-breasted, but with some overlap.
Identification
The Munchique wood wren is 10.8 to 11.7 cm (4.3 to 4.6 in) long and weighs 15.2 to 16.7 g (0.54 to 0.59 oz). The adult has a dark brown crown with blackish marks, a thin white supercilium, a dull black line from the lores through the eye, and blackish cheeks with whitish mottling. Its upperparts are a slightly brighter brown than the crown and its tail is brown with black bars. The throat is white, streaked with black at its lower edge. The breast is medium gray, the belly a lighter gray, and the flanks and vent area brown. The abdomen and flanks have dark gray to black bars. The juvenile is much darker than the adult and does not have the abdominal barring.
Taxonomy
The Munchique wood wren was first observed by Steven Hilty in the 1980s and not described until detailed studies by Paul Salaman, Paul Coopmans, Thomas Donegan, and others in 2000. Morphological and especially vocal differences set it apart from the widespread grey-breasted wood wren (Henicorhina leucophrys) that occurs at lower elevations on the same mountain slope. It is closely related to the grey-breasted wood wren and is probably derived from it. The species' scientific name honors Álvaro José Negret, a Colombian ornithologist who died in 1998. The Munchique wood wren is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Henicorhina negreti
- Authority
- Salaman, Coopmans, Donegan, Mulligan, Cortés-Diago, Hilty & Ortega, 2003
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Troglodytidae
- Genus
- Henicorhina
Range and habitat
The Munchique wood wren is found on the Pacific slope of Colombia's Western Andes. It is known from only a few areas, the Munchique Massif in Cauca Department; in the region where the departments of Chocó, Antioquia, and Risaralda meet; in the area where extreme eastern Chocó and southwestern Antioquia meet; and a very small area in extreme southeastern Chocó.<p>The Munchiqe wood wren appears to have very specific habitat requirements. It inhabits very wet and stunted cloud forest, typically with many epiphytes, that is almost continuously in fog. In elevation it ranges from 2,250 to 2,640 m (7,380 to 8,660 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Munchique wood wren forages low in vegetation, typically below 2 m (6.6 ft) above the ground but occasionally up to 4 m (13 ft). It may briefly associate with mixed-species foraging flocks that enter its territory but does not follow them. The stomach contents of specimens contained beetles, flies, and other arthropods.<p>Based on the age of a collected juvenile, the Munchique wood wren lays its eggs in early June, but no other information about its breeding phenology has been published.<p>The Munchique wood wren's song is "phrases of 6–12 pure notes...[with a] typical song containing more than ten repeated phrases". Its calls are "mostly churrs, similar to those of congeners."
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Lesser Cuckoo
Cuculus poliocephalus
Like many other cuckoos, this species is most often detected by its song, a short phrase of jumbled notes, often likened to “eat-your-choKY-pepper!”, with the latter half being significantly louder than the former half. Most adults are gray with black-barred white underparts and dark eyes. Some females are bright rufous above with dark bars across the wings and back. Juvenile is brownish above and often has faint white edging to the wing feathers. Averages smaller but also more compact and stumpy in shape than other similar cuckoos. Sings and forages in the canopy of lowland and foothill forests.
Pied Butcherbird
Cracticus nigrogularis
Medium-sized ambush-hunter with a long gray bill with a dark, hooked tip. Adult has black head, upper breast, back, and tail that contrast starkly with white nape, breast, belly, and wing pattern. Immature similarly patterned in brown instead of black. More likely than Gray Butcherbird to perch atop trees and poles. Beautiful fluting, whistling song, sometimes heard at night.
Tumbes Swallow
Tachycineta stolzmanni
Desert-loving swallow of northwestern Peru; occasionally (perhaps seasonally) crosses over the border into southwestern Ecuador. The only swallow in its limited range with a white rump. Underparts are faintly streaked, though this is only evident from close range. Entirely white lower underparts help separate it from Blue-and-white Swallow. Usually seen in pairs or small groups circling over desolate habitat or perched atop a small bush or tree.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.