The campo miner (''Geositta poeciloptera'') is a
Vulnerable species
A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened 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 subfamily Sclerurinae, the leaftossers and miners, 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 ]Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
and Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, and as a vagrant
Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western countries, ...
in Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
.[Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. 28 March 2023. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved April 15, 2023]
Taxonomy and systematics
The campo miner was originally placed alone in genus ''Geobates'' and has sometimes been treated there since, but genetic data place it firmly in ''Geositta''.[Remsen, Jr., J. V. and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Campo Miner (''Geositta poeciloptera''), 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.cammin2.01 retrieved May 2, 2023] It 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 campo miner is a small member of its genus. It is long and weighs . The sexes are alike. It has a dull rufescent brown face with a buff supercilium. It is dull grayish brown from its crown to its rump; the crown has vague brown spots and its rump and uppertail coverts have a rufescent tinge. Its tail is short; its feathers are rufous with a blackish brown band near the end. Its wing coverts are dark brownish with paler edges. Its axillaries ("wing pits") are cinnamon. Its flight feathers are blackish with a wide chestnut-rufous band that shows in flight. Its throat is whitish, its upper breast dull buff with brown flecks, its lower breast and belly whitish, and its flanks and undertail coverts pale rufous. Its iris is brown, its shortish bill is dark horn or blackish with a pale horn or pinkish gray 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 its legs and feet are pale brown to pale gray or even dull pinkish.
Distribution and habitat
The campo miner is found in south-central Brazil, in an area roughly bounded by the states of Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...
, Bahia
Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
, and Paraná, and in northeastern Santa Cruz Department in Bolivia. There is also at least one record in Paraguay.[ It inhabits campo grasslands and '']cerrado
The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...
'', open landscapes with at most scattered trees. It favors recently burned areas, especially for breeding. In elevation it ranges between .[
]
Behavior
Movement
The campo miner is non-migratory, but makes local movements among areas of suitable habitat.[
]
Feeding
The campo miner forages singly or in pairs. It gleans food from the ground while hopping, not walking. Its diet is mostly 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 ...
s; known items include Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic.
Females typi ...
, Coleoptera
Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...
, Mantidae
Mantidae is one of the largest family (biology), families in the Order (biology), order of Mantodea, praying mantises, based on the type species ''Mantis religiosa''; most genera are tropical or subtropical. Historically, this was the only family ...
, and spiders.[
]
Breeding
The campo miner's breeding season has not been fully documented but includes at least September and October. The three known nests were in side chambers in armadillo
Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...
burrows; the chambers were lined with dead grass and hair. The one clutch was of three eggs.[
]
Vocalization
The campo miner's display flight song is a "high, level, hurried, rolling 'turruturrut---' " that lasts 15 to 20 seconds.[ Its flight call is "pit-pit".][
]
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 ...
originally assessed the campo miner as Near Threatened but since 2009 has rated it as Vulnerable. Its population size is not known and is believed to be rapidly decreasing. At least two-thirds of its original ''cerrado'' habitat has been converted to cropland, cattle ranching, and plantations of non-native trees. Ironically, fire suppression has reduced its breeding habitat in some areas.[ It occurs in some protected areas but is considered generally uncommon to rare. Brazilian authorities declared it Endangered in 2014.][
]
References
External links
Image at ADW
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1260733
campo miner
Birds of Brazil
campo miner
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot