Streaked xenops

Streaked xenops
In Piraju, São Paulo, Brazil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Furnariidae
Subfamily: Dendrocolaptinae
Tribe: Xenopini
Genus: Xenops
Species: X. rutilans
Binomial name
Xenops rutilans
Temminck, 1821

The streaked xenops (Xenops rutilans) is a passerine bird which breeds in the tropical New World from Costa Rica and Trinidad south to Bolivia and northern Argentina. Like the closely related true woodcreepers, it is a member of the South American bird family Furnariidae.

The streaked xenops is typically 4.8 in (12.2 cm) long, weighs 0.44 oz (12.6 g), and has a stubby wedge-shaped bill. The head is dark brown with a whitish supercilium and malar stripe. The upperparts are brown, becoming rufous on the tail and rump, and there is a buff bar on the darker brown wings. The underparts are white-streaked olive brown. Males and females looks alike. Visually inconspicuous, it is easier located by its chattering call, a series of 5 or 6 metallic zeet notes.

It is found in wet forests in foothills and mountains between 2,000-7,200 ft (600-2,200 m) ASL, and will utilize secondary forests and opened-up growth.[2] The streaked xenops is often difficult to see as it forages on bark, rotting stumps or bare twigs;[2] it moves in all directions on the trunk like a treecreeper, but does not use its tail as a prop. It feeds on arthropods such as the larvae of wood-boring beetles, but can also catch flying termites in mid-air.[3] It joins mixed-species feeding flocks on a more or less regular basis depending on location, usually moving through the middle levels of the forest.[4]

The streaked xenops builds its nest by simply placing a few stems and roots in a hole 5–15 ft (1.5-4.5 m) high in a tree. The normal clutch is two white eggs, incubated by both sexes.

Footnotes

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Xenops rutilans". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. 1 2 de L. Fávaro et al. (2006)
  3. Olson & Alvarenga (2006)
  4. Machado (1999), Olson & Alvarenga (2006)

References

External links

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