Spot-crowned woodcreeper
The spot-crowned woodcreeper (Lepidocolaptes affinis), is a passerine bird which breeds in the tropical New World from the Sierra Madre Oriental of eastern Mexico to northern Panama.
| Spot-crowned woodcreeper | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Furnariidae |
| Genus: | Lepidocolaptes |
| Species: | L. affinis |
| Binomial name | |
| Lepidocolaptes affinis (Lafresnaye, 1839) | |
Description
The spot-crowned woodcreeper is typically 21.5 cm (8.5 in) long, and weighs 35 g (1.2 oz). It has a spotted crown, olive brown upperparts with fine streaking on the upper back, a chestnut rump, wings and tail, and heavily streaked olive-brown underparts. The bill is slender and decurved. Young birds are duller with less distinct streaking and crown spots. The call is a squeaky deeik and the song is a trill and rattle deeeeeeah hihihihihi. [2]
The spot-crowned woodcreeper is very similar to streak-headed woodcreeper, Lepidocolaptes souleyetii, but is larger, has a spotted crown, and is the only woodcreeper found at high altitudes.
Distribution and habitat
This woodcreeper is found in mountains from 1000 m to the timberline in mossy, epiphyte-laden forest and adjacent semi-open woodland and clearings.[2]
Behaviour
It builds a leaf-lined nest 0.6 to 8 m (2 ft 0 in to 26 ft 3 in) up in a tree cavity or old woodpecker or barbet hole, and lays two white eggs.[2]
It feeds on spiders and insects, creeping up trunks and extracting its prey from the bark or mosses. It will join mixed-species feeding flocks.[2]
References
- ^ BirdLife International (2020). "Lepidocolaptes affinis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T103670723A140438191. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T103670723A140438191.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d Stiles, F. Gary; Skutch, Alexander F. (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. pp. 265–266. ISBN 978-0-8014-9600-4.
Further reading
- Skutch, Alexander F. (1969). "Spotted-crowned woodcreeper" (PDF). Life Histories of Central American Birds III: Families Cotingidae, Pipridae, Formicariidae, Furnariidae, Dendrocolaptidae, and Picidae. Pacific Coast Avifauna, Number 35. Berkeley, California: Cooper Ornithological Society. pp. 385–391.
External links
- Stamps (for El Salvador) with range map
- Photo gallery - VIREO