Chestnut-crowned Gnateater
Conopophaga castaneiceps
Plump, short-tailed bird of Andean cloud forest understory. Male is gray with a chestnut crown and brownish-tinged back. Female is browner with chestnut extending to neck and breast. Both sexes have a partially concealed white plume behind eye that can be lifted when the bird is excited. Usually encountered alone and perched near the ground. Song is a harsh, staccato rattle that rises in pitch.
Identification
The chestnut-crowned gnateater is 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in) long. The mean weight of seven specimens was 27.6 g (0.97 oz). The male of the nominate subspecies has brown upper parts; a gray face, throat, and chest; and orange-brown flanks and vent area. The top of the head is orange-red and there is a white tuft behind the eye. C. c. chapmani has a brighter (less brown) crown. C. c. brunneinucha's orange-red is only the forehead; it is darker overall and has a white patch on the belly. C. c. chocoensis is similar to brunneinucha but is smaller, has less gray, has a more olive tinge to the back, and more orange-red on the crown. The female's head and chest are orange-red and the belly is whitish. The white plume behind the eye is smaller than that of the male.
Taxonomy
The position of the chestnut-crowned gnateater in linear format is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy place it differently within the gnateater family.<p>Four subspecies are recognized, though birds on the western slope of Colombia's Central Andes might be an unnamed taxon:
- Scientific name
- Conopophaga castaneiceps
- Authority
- Sclater, PL, 1857
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Conopophagidae
- Genus
- Conopophaga
Range and habitat
The chestnut-crowned gnateater occurs in discontinuous areas from central Colombia to south-central Peru. C. c. chocoensis is found in Colombia on the western slope of the Western Andes and in the Serranía del Baudó of western Chocó Department. C. c. castaneiceps is found in Colombia's Central and Eastern Andes and into Ecuador. C. c. chapmani is found on the east slope of the Andes from southern Ecuador to the Department of San Martín in northern Peru. C. c. brunneinucha is found on the east slope of the Peruvian Andes from Huánuco south to Cuzco. It inhabits subtropical and tropical rainforest. Though it lives in the forest interior, it prefers smaller vegetation there in openings such as regrowing landslides. It ranges in elevation mostly between 1,000 and 2,000 m (3,300 and 6,600 ft) but has been found as low as 500 to 600 m (1,600 to 2,000 ft) in Colombia and Ecuador and as high as about 2,200 m (7,200 ft) in Peru.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The chestnut-crowned gnateater forages for arthropods in leaf litter and foliage on and near the ground.<p>Little is known about the chestnut-crowned gnateater's breeding phenology. A nest found in February in Colombia was a hidden cup placed less than 1 m (3.3 ft) above ground. Birds were noted in breeding condition between March and June in Colombia's Central Andes.<p>The chesnut-crowned gnateater's song is "a series of frog-like, slightly disyllabic notes" that accelerate and get louder after the first one or two notes. Its calls include a "harsh 'zhiek!'" and a "lower 'schek'".
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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