Narrow-billed woodcreeper

Lepidocolaptes angustirostris

(Photo from Verde Verdugo)

Common name:
narrow-billed woodcreeper (en); arapaçu-do-cerrado (pt); grimpar à bec étroit (fr); trepatroncos chico (es); südlicher weißbauch-baumsteiger (de)


Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Dendrocolaptidae


Range:
These birds are found in South America, in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Surinam and Uruguay.


Size:
They are 19-21 cm long and weigh 28-30 g.


Habitat:
Narrow-billed woodcreepers are mostly found in subtropical or tropical dry forests and in dry savanna habitats, namely cerrado. They can also be found in moist savanna, swamp forests, scrubland, plantations and in degraded former forests.


Diet:
They spend most of their time searching for small animals in the bark of trees, taking spiders, scorpions, insects, amphibians and small lizards.


Breeding:
The narrow-billed woodcreepers nest in tree cavities, either natural or made by woodpeckers.  There the female lays 2-3 eggs which are incubated by both sexes for 15-19 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 19 days after hatching.


Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as fairly common. This population is suspected to be increasing as ongoing habitat degradation is creating new areas of suitable habitat.