The band-tailed earthcreeper (''Ochetorhynchus phoenicurus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Furnariidae. It is found in Argentina and Chile.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 31 May 2023. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved May 31, 2023

Taxonomy and systematics

The band-tailed earthcreeper was originally described as ''Eremobius phoenicurus''. In the early 1900s at least one publication put it in genus ''Enicornis''. Since the early 2000s has been in its present genus.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 31 May 2023. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 31, 2023 The band-tailed earthcreeper is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

Description

The band-tailed earthcreeper is long and weighs . It is a smallish earthcreeper whose medium-length bill is thin and straight. The sexes are alike. Adults have a white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

, a dark stripe behind the eye, and rufescent cheeks. Their crown and upperparts are plain dull gray-brown. Their tail's central pair of feathers are fuscous blackish with dull gray-brown bases and the rest have a sharp line between dark rufous bases and black ends. Their wings are dull gray-brown. Their throat is whitish with grayer edges, their breast and belly pale dull gray-brown with paler streaks on the breast and flanks, and their undertail coverts whitish. Their iris is dark brown, their bill black or blackish brown with a pale gray or horn base to the

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

, and their legs and feet blackish brown or blackish. Juveniles have pale feather edges on their forehead and much fainter streaking on their underparts than adults.emsen, Jr., J. V. (2020). Band-tailed Earthcreeper (''Ochetorhynchus phoenicurus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.batear1.01 retrieved August 18, 2023

Distribution and habitat

The band-tailed earthcreeper is found in southwestern Argentina between

Neuquén Neuquén (; ) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form t ...

and Santa Cruz provinces and in the northeastern part of far southern Chile's

Magallanes Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region () or Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctica Region in English, is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and sec ...

. It inhabits arid scrublands and temperate grasslands. It favors thinly vegetated plains, plateaus, and slopes. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to .

Behavior

Movement

The band-tailed earthcreeper is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The band-tailed earthcreeper forages on the ground for its

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

diet, usually singly. It probes and gleans on bare ground, in rock crevices, and in grass clumps and

cushion plant A cushion plant is a compact, low-growing, mat-forming plant that is found in alpine, subalpine, arctic, or subarctic environments around the world. The term "cushion" is usually applied to woody plants that grow as spreading mats, are limited i ...

Breeding

The band-tailed earthcreeper is thought to be monomgamous. It breeds in the austral summer, at least between September and January. It constructs a ball nest of thorny twigs with a side entrance to a tunnel leading to the nest chamber, typically placed about above the ground in a low bush or cactus. It lines the floor of the chamber with soft material such as hair, flowers, and feathers. The clutch size is two to four eggs. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.

Vocalization

The band-tailed earthcreeper's song is "a fast dry trill that sometimes ends with separate sharp 'ti' notes". Its alarm call is "a repeated, husky 'suwee' or 'wheet' ".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the band-tailed earthcreeper as being of Least Concern. It has a somewhat limited range and its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered to be uncommon to fairly common, and its habitat "appears to be reasonably secure, with

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature ...

probably the only form of anthropogenic disturbance".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q251036 band-tailed earthcreeper Birds of Patagonia band-tailed earthcreeper Taxonomy articles created by Polbot