The speckle-chested piculet (''Picumnus steindachneri'') 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 ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Picumninae The piculets are a distinctive subfamily, Picumninae, of small woodpeckers which occur mainly in tropical South America, with just three Asian and one African piculet, African species. Like the true woodpeckers, piculets have large heads, long t ...

of the woodpecker family

Picidae Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The speckle-chested piculet 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 speckle-chested piculet is long and weighs about . Adult males have a black cap with a red patch on the forehead and white spots on the rest of it. Their upperparts are grayish brown whose feathers have pale gray edges and dark marks near the end that give a scalloped appearance. Their rump is paler. Their flight feathers are brown with pale gray or off-white edges on the secondaries and

tertials Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...

. Their tail is blackish; the innermost pair of feathers have mostly white inner webs and the outer two pairs have a white patch near the end. Their chin and throat feathers are white with black tips. Their breast is black with large teardrop shaped white spots, and their belly and undertail

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 ...

are white with wide black bars. Adult females are identical but with small white spots instead of red on the forehead.Schulenberg, T. S. and C. W. Sedgwick (2020). Speckle-chested Piculet (''Picumnus steindachneri''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.spcpic1.01 retrieved January 12, 2023

Distribution and habitat

The speckle-chested piculet is

to a very small area of Peru. It is known only from the central

Huallaga Valley The Huallaga River is a tributary of the Marañón River, part of the Amazon Basin. Old names for this river include ''Guallaga'' and ''Rio de los Motilones''. The Huallaga is born on the slopes of the Andes in central Peru and joins the Marañó ...

and certain parts of the Utcubamba Valley in the foothills of the eastern Andes. Other nearby areas with similar habitat have not been explored so the species' range possibly is larger. It mostly inhabits humid lowland

primary forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

and

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

with

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

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 and

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

s, but it also occurs in mature

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 ...

. In elevation it ranges between .

Behavior

Feeding

The speckle-chested piculet apparently forages mostly in the forest canopy but also has been observed feeding at lower levels as well. It feeds alone, in pairs, or in small family groups and often joins

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

s. Its diet has not been studied but is assumed to be mostly insects.

Breeding

Juvenile speckle-chested piculets have been noted in late August and early September but nothing else is known about the species' breeding season, nest, eggs, or the rest of its breeding biology.

Vocal and non-vocal sounds

The speckle-chested piculet's song is "a high-pitched, rapid, falling trill: ''tree'e'e'e'e'e'e''." Its "vigorous tapping during foraging can produce a distinctive rattling sound."

Status

The speckle-chested piculet was originally and as of today assessed as Near Threatened (although in 2000 as Vulnerable and in 2012 as Endangered). It is known from only a few locations across a very limited range. Its population is estimated at between 6000 and 15,000 mature individuals and is believed to be decreasing. The primary threat is continuing deforestation for timber and clearance for coffee plantations, cattle grazing, and other agriculture. It has been noted as uncommon to fairly common at scattered sites. "Although the Speckle-chested Piculet can tolerate second growth, at least tall second growth near tall forest, it remains forest dependent, and is very vulnerable to widespread habitat destruction."