Sharpbill | Oxyruncidae

Scherpsnavels | Picoagudos | Sharpbill

A family with a single species, the Sharpbill, which occurs patchily and locally in the canopy of humid foothill and montane forest, in the region mainly on the eastern foothills of the Andes in Peru and Bolivia. It is a starling-sized bird with a short, straight, sharply pointed conical bill, to which it owes its name. The upperparts are olive green, the head and underparts yellowish white densely marked with black spots and scales, and a concealed orange-red stripe runs along the crown that becomes visible only when the bird is excited; the eye is orange. The Sharpbill forages acrobatically, often hanging from twigs or the undersides of leaves, and probes rolled-up leaves and moss for insects and their eggs; it also eats fruit. Outside the breeding season it often travels with mixed flocks through the canopy. The song is a long, buzzy, descending trill that carries further than such an inconspicuous bird would suggest. The nest is a small, shallow cup fastened with spider silk to a branch high in a tree. Its place in the classification has long been uncertain; its closest relatives appear to be the cotingas and tityras.