The Peruvian recurvebill (''Syndactyla ucayalae'') is a Near Threatened species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, Brazil and Peru.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Peruvian recurvebill and its sister species the

Bolivian recurvebill The Bolivian recurvebill (''Syndactyla striatus'') is a bird species in the family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Bolivia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is beco ...

(''S. striata'') were previously placed in genus ''Simoxenops''. Their vocalizations and behavior strongly suggested the two species belonged in ''Syndactyla'', and that placement was confirmed by genetic study.Derryberry, E. P., S. Claramunt, G. Derryberry, R. T. Chesser, J. Cracraft, A. Aleixo, J. Pérez-Emán, J. V. Remsen, Jr., and R. T. Brumfield. (2011). Lineage diversification and morphological evolution in a large-scale continental radiation: the Neotropical ovenbirds and woodcreepers (Aves: Furnariidae). Evolution 65(10):2973–2986. The Peruvian recurvebill is monotypic.

Description

The Peruvian recurvebill is long and weighs . It is a largish furnariid with a heavy, wedge-shaped, slightly upturned, bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a faint narrow rufous

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 ...

, grizzled grayish, brownish, and dark buff lores and ear

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

, and a reddish rufous malar area. Their crown is dark reddish brown with faint streaks on the forehead. Their uppperparts are reddish brown with a slightly more reddish collar. Their wings are dark reddish brown with dark ochraceous at the bend. Their tail is dark reddish chestnut. Their throat is orange-rufous with faint paler streaks at its lower edge, their breast orange-rufous with faint paler streaks, their belly slightly duller than the breast and minimally streaked, and their flanks and undertail coverts darker orange-rufous than the breast. Their iris is brown to dark brown, their maxilla grayish horn to grayish brown, their mandible gray to silvery-bluish, and their legs and feet olive to olive-green. Juveniles have a brighter supercilium than adults, with whitish lores. Their crown is darker, with dark rufescent spots. Their back is darker and less rufescent and their underparts paler but with a strong black scalloped pattern.Remsen, Jr., J. V. (2020). Peruvian Recurvebill (''Syndactyla ucayalae''), 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.perrec1.01 retrieved September 1, 2023

Distribution and habitat

The Peruvian recurvebill is found in the western

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

of southeastern Peru, northern Bolivia, and far western Brazil, and also locally in isolated areas further east in Amazonian Brazil. It is a bamboo specialist, inhabiting tropical lowland evergreen forest and riverside forest in and near thickets of ''

Guadua ''Guadua'' is a Neotropical genus of thorny, clumping bamboo in the grass family, ranging from moderate to very large species. Physically, ''Guadua angustifolia'' is noted for being the largest Neotropical bamboo. The genus is similar to ''Bam ...

'' bamboo. It also locally occurs in riverside thickets of ''

Gynerium ''Gynerium'' is a monotypic genus of Neotropical plants in the grass family, native to Mexico and Colombia, Central America, South America, and the West Indies. It is classified in its own tribe Gynerieae. The sole species in the genus is ''G ...

'' cane. In elevation it reaches .

Behavior

Movement

The Peruvian recurvebill is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The Peruvian recurvebill feeds on a variety of arthropods including spiders, beetle larvae, and earwigs. It typically forages singly or in pairs and occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It mostly forages in dense undergrowth in the forest's understory, but will rarely also feed up to the mid-storey. It does most of its feeding on bamboo and lesser amounts on cane, vines, and other plants. It finds its prey by hammering, excavating, flaking, and gleaning.

Breeding

Nothing is known about the Peruvian recurvebill's breeding biology.

Vocalization

The Peruvian recurvebill's song is a "short, loud, harsh, ascending rattle (2-3 sec), last note(s) sometimes lowered". Its call is "a loud, hoarse, irritated, low-pitched 'chack' ".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the Peruvian recurvebill as Near Threatened. It has a "moderately small" population "with highly fragmented populations occurring over a wide range". "Habitat within its core range is relatively intact, but the region, including those areas under legal protection, is being opened up for development...resulting in further degradation." It is considered rare to locally uncommon. It does occur in a few protected areas, and does appear to tolerate selective logging.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1272727 Peruvian recurvebill Birds of the Amazon rainforest Birds of the Bolivian Amazon Birds of Peruvian Amazonia Peruvian recurvebill Taxonomy articles created by Polbot