Chestnut-capped foliage-gleaner

Hylocryptus rectirostris

Photo by Alessandro Abdala (Flickriver)

Common name:

chestnut-capped foliage-gleaner (en); fura-barreira (pt); anabate à bec droit (fr); barranquero de pico recto (es); östlicher rötelbaumspäher (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Furnariidae

Range:

This South American species is endemic to the Cerrado region of southern Brazil and northern Paraguay.

Size:

These birds are 20-22 cm long and weigh 45-55 g.

Habitat:

This species is found in the undergrowth of gallery forests and in patches of deciduous woodland.

Diet:

The chestnut-capped foliage-gleaner mostly searches for food among dead leaves on the ground, often near water, taking various arthropods, namely grasshoppers and caterpillars. They are also known to occasionally eat amphibians.

Breeding:

These birds breed in August-November. Both sexes help build the nest, excavating a hole on a river bank, inside which they build a cup using small twigs and bark. There the female lays 2-3 white eggs which are incubated by both parents for 17 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 21-25 days after hatching, but remain within the parental territory for up to 3 months.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

This species has a large breeding range, but is described as rare. The chestnut-capped foliage-gleaner is presumably threatened by selective logging and agricultural conversion of forested areas within the Brazilian planalto, but the population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines.