The tawny-winged woodcreeper (''Dendrocincla anabatina'') 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 in

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

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 ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The tawny-winged woodcreeper has three subspecies, 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. a. anabatina'' ( Sclater, PL, 1859), ''D. a. typhla'' ( Oberholser, 1904), and ''D. a. saturata'' ( Carriker, 1910). Some authors have merged ''saturata'' with the nominate but this treatment has not been widely accepted.Marantz, C. A., A. Aleixo, L. R. Bevier, and M. A. Patten (2020). Tawny-winged Woodcreeper (''Dendrocincla anabatina''), 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.tawwoo1.01 retrieved May 25, 2023

Description

The tawny-winged woodcreeper is long. Males of the nominate subspecies weigh and females . The species is a medium-sized member of its genus, with a straight bill, a short tail, and a ruffled nape. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a brown head with buffy

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 ...

and bare gray skin around the eye. Their crown, nape, and back are dark olive-brown and their 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 cinnamon-rufous to rufous-chestnut. Their wing coverts are dark olive-brown and their flight feathers tawny with dusky tips. Their throat is pale buff and their underparts light olive-brown that becomes cinnamon on the belly and undertail coverts. Their iris is yellowish brown to gray, their

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

dark brown or black, their

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 ...

gray or bluish, and their legs and feet dark blue-gray to blackish. Juveniles are similar to adults but with a duller throat, a wider supercilium, and sometimes a white eye. Subspecies ''D. a. typhla'' is paler than the nominate, especially on its underparts. ''D. a. saturata'' has darker and more olivaceous upperparts than the nominate and the centers of its flight feathers are duller.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of the tawny-winged woodcreeper is found along the Caribbean slope from southeastern

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

in southern Mexico (except the

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula ( , ; ) is a large peninsula in southeast Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the C ...

) south through Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras to eastern Nicaragua. ''D. a. typhla'' is found on the Yucatán Peninsula. ''D. a. saturata'' is found on the Pacific slope from Costa Rica's

Gulf of Nicoya The Gulf of Nicoya () is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. It separates the Nicoya Peninsula from the mainland of Costa Rica, and encompasses a marine and coastal landscape of wetlands, rocky islands and cliffs. The first Spanish landing in Nicaragua ...

into Panama's

Chiriquí Province Chiriquí () is a province of Panama located on the western coast; it is the second most developed province in the country, after Panamá Province. Its capital is the city of David. It has a total area of 6,490.9 km2, with a population of 47 ...

. The tawny-winged woodcreeper primarily inhabits mature humid evergreen

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 ...

and to a lesser extent the forest edges and nearby semi-open landscapes. On the Yucatán Peninsula it also occurs in

semi-deciduous Semi-deciduous or semi-evergreen is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and sub-tropical wood ...

forest and, in Costa Rica, mangroves. It tends to stay low to the ground. In elevation it mostly occurs below but ranges as high as in Mexico and northern Central America and to in Costa Rica.

Behavior

Movement

The tawny-winged woodcreeper is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The tawny-winged 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 forages away from them following troops of

squirrel monkey Squirrel monkeys are New World monkeys of the genus ''Saimiri''. ''Saimiri'' is the only genus in the subfamily Saimiriinae. The name of the genus is of Tupi origin (''sai-mirím'' or ''çai-mbirín'', with ''sai'' meaning 'monkey' and ''mirím' ...

s. It typically clings to a branch or trunk up to above the ground and makes short flights to the ground to capture a wide variety of

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 also takes small vertebrate prey such as lizards and occasionally feeds on fruit. It does not feed on the army ants themselves. It usually forages singly or in twos and is highly aggressive to other species and its own.

Breeding

The tawny-winged woodcreeper's breeding season varies somewhat geographically but falls between March and July. It nests in cavities in a stump or a tree or palm trunk; most cavities are natural but some are old woodpecker holes. The cavity is floored with mosses and soft fibers. The clutch size is two eggs. The incubation period is 20 to 21 days and fledging occurs about 24 days after hatch. It appears that only the female builds the nest, incubates the eggs, and provisions the nestlings.

Vocalization

The tawny-winged woodcreeper makes a long rattle song described as "''whee-whee-whee-whee...''" that may last more than a minute. Its calls include "a plaintive 'squirp', 'deyeew', 'cheeuw', and 'tchee-u'." Another rendition of a call is "an emphatic ''TEAURRR!''".

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 tawny-winged 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. It is generally considered to be fairly common to common except on the Yucatán Peninsula, where it is rare. Though most woodcreepers are very sensitive to forest disturbance there is some evidence that this species tolerates it to some degree.

References

External links

Tawny-winged Woodcreeper photo gallery
VIREO
Photo-Medium Res
mbr-wrc.usgs.gov– Mexico Birds {{Taxonbar, from=Q903916 tawny-winged woodcreeper Birds of Central America Birds of Mexico Birds of Belize Birds of Guatemala Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua Birds of Costa Rica Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula tawny-winged woodcreeper tawny-winged woodcreeper Taxonomy articles created by Polbot