The ruddy woodcreeper (''Dendrocincla homochroa'') is a

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

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 subfamily

Dendrocolaptinae The woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptinae) comprise a subfamily of suboscine passerine birds endemic to the Neotropics. They have traditionally been considered a distinct family Dendrocolaptidae, but most authorities now place them as a subfamily of the ...

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 from southern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

to northern

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and extreme northern

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The ruddy woodcreeper has these four subspecies: *''D. h. homochroa'' ( Sclater, PL, 1860) *''D. h. acedesta'' Oberholser, 1904 *''D. h. ruficeps'' Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1868 *''D. h. meridionalis'' Phelps, WH & Phelps, WH Jr, 1953 Subspecies ''D. h. acedesta'' has sometimes been merged into the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...

''D. h. homochroa''.Marantz, C. A., A. Aleixo, L. R. Bevier, and M. A. Patten (2020). Ruddy Woodcreeper (''Dendrocincla homochroa''), 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.rudwoo1.01 retrieved May 24, 2023

Description

The ruddy woodcreeper is long. Males weigh and females . The species is a medium-sized member of its genus, with a straight bill, a short tail, and a large head with a ruffled nape. The sexes have the same plumage. The nominate subspecies has dark rufous to chestnut-brown upperparts with a brighter reddish crown. Its wings, uppertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

, and tail are rufous chestnut. The tips of its

primaries Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...

are dusky. It has grayish lores and eyering and a cinnamon-buff to tawny-ochraceous throat. Its underparts are rufous brown with a paler belly and more rufous undertail coverts. Its underwing coverts are pale rufous. Its iris is reddish brown to pale chestnut-brown and its legs and feet pale grayish to grayish brown. Its bill is highly variable; it can be dusky brownish, grayish, dull pinkish with a blackish tip, or all black. Subspecies ''D. h. acedesta'' is larger, darker, and more olive than the nominate and its throat and belly are not as pale. ''D. h. ruficeps'' is slightly larger than ''acedesta'', has a heavier bill, and is slightly paler overall. ''D. h. meridionalis'' has a darker chestnut crown and darker and more olive-brown upperparts than the other three subspecies.

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of the ruddy woodcreeper are found thus: *''D. h. homochroa'', both sides of southern Mexico south through Belize, Guatemala, a bit of El Salvador, and Honduras into northeastern Nicaragua *''D. h. acedesta'', the Pacific slope from southwestern Nicaragua through Costa Rica into western Panama and also the Caribbean slope of northern and central Costa Rica *''D. h. ruficeps'', central and eastern Panama and slightly into northwestern Colombia *''D. h. meridionalis'', northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela The ruddy woodcreeper inhabits a variety of forest landscapes including lowland deciduous forest, rainforest,

cloudforest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, ...

, and

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

. It favors the interior of mature

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

but also occurs at their edges, in younger secondary forest, and in semi-open areas with some trees. It is generally a bird of lowlands and foothills. At the northernmost edge of its range it occurs at elevations between . In northern Central America it occurs as high as but is most common between . In Costa Rica it mostly occurs between and in Panama between . It is typically below in Colombia and below in Venezuela.

Behavior

Movement

The ruddy woodcreeper is mostly a year-round resident throughout its range. It may wander from higher elevations in Central America and might be somewhat nomadic in northwestern Costa Rica.

Feeding

The ruddy woodcreeper is a near-

obligate {{wiktionary, obligate As an adjective, obligate means "by necessity" (antonym '' facultative'') and is used mainly in biology in phrases such as: * Obligate aerobe, an organism that cannot survive without oxygen * Obligate anaerobe, an organism ...

follower of

army ant The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limited ...

swarms but occasionally joins

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

s away from them. It typically clings to a trunk up to above the ground and makes short flights to capture

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 ...

prey disturbed by the ants. It does not feed on the ants themselves. It does occasionally forage in

epiphyte An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

s. Usually one or two birds attend the ant swarms.

Breeding

The ruddy woodcreeper's breeding season varies somewhat geographically but falls between March and June. It nests in cavities in a stump or a tree or palm trunk. It adds bark and other fibers to the bottom of the cavity, and first builds up deep ones with moss or leaves. The clutch size is two or three eggs. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.

Vocalization

The ruddy woodcreeper seldom vocalizes. It does make a "rattle, churring or slightly slurred" song and a variety of calls including "churring, a squeaky 'quink' or 'peach', and a nasal, descending 'deeeeah' or 'tee tee eu' ".

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 ruddy woodcreeper as being of Least Concern. It has a large range and a population estimated at between 50,000 and 500,000 mature individuals. The latter is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. From Mexico to Costa Rica it is considered uncommon to fairly common and from Costa Rica to Panama only locally common. It appears to be more common in Venezuela than in Colombia. It appears "to be highly sensitive to loss and fragmentation of mature forest; even within suitable habitat numbers seem to fluctuate substantially, this possibly contributing to local extinction at marginal sites."

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1262945 ruddy woodcreeper Birds of Central America Birds of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Birds of the Serranía del Perijá Birds of the Venezuelan Andes ruddy woodcreeper ruddy woodcreeper