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Bolivian Recurvebill | Syndactyla striata
Lapazkrombekbladspeurder | Ticotico picolezna boliviano | Limpa-folha-de-bico-virado-boliviano
The Bolivian Recurvebill is the montane counterpart of the Peruvian Recurvebill and lives almost only in the Andean foothills of Bolivia, with a few sites in far south-eastern Peru. It has the same heavy, upturned bill, but a streaked crown and back. It is strongly associated with Guadua bamboo, although not strictly tied to it.
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Voice
The song is a harsh, staccato rattling series that rises, levels off in pitch and ends abruptly. Calls are a raspy chet and a nasal, scolding naah.
Recording: Jacob Wijpkema — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
19–20 cm, with a heavy, grey bill with an upturned lower mandible. The face is grizzled brown and rufous, with an ochre-buff supercilium. The crown and back are dark rufous-brown with dark buff streaks. The throat and malar area are orange-rufous, and the breast and belly blurrily streaked. The iris is dark and the legs greyish. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Peruvian Recurvebill Syndactyla ucayalae lives lower, in the Amazonian lowlands, and has an unstreaked crown and back. Buff-browed Foliage-Gleaner Syndactyla rufosuperciliata is smaller and more olive, with a thin, straight bill and a scaled breast. Bamboo Foliage-Gleaner Anabazenops dorsalis is slimmer, with a straight bill and a pale throat.
Habitat
Humid forest in the foothills and lower montane zone, between about 650 and 1700 m, especially where Guadua bamboo is common. It forages low to mid-height in bamboo and dense vegetation, breaking open stems and dead leaves for insects. Little is known of the nest.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia and Ecuador: absent. Peru: only in the far south-east, in the foothills of Puno; few records. Bolivia: in the foothills and Yungas of La Paz and Cochabamba, locally farther east. Absent from the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search bamboo-rich foothill forest in the Yungas of La Paz and Cochabamba. Listen for the harsh, abruptly ending rattle and look for the heavy, upturned bill.
Conservation status
Least Concern, after earlier listings as Vulnerable and as Near Threatened. The population is thought to be declining through deforestation, logging and mining, but the species appears to tolerate changes to the forest and occurs in several protected areas.
Scientific name
Syndactyla striata | (Carriker, 1935)
Carriker described the species in 1935 as Anachilus striatus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Syndactyla was introduced in 1853 by Reichenbach. The genus name comes from Greek sun 'together' and daktulos 'finger' or 'toe', after the partly fused front toes. The species name is Latin striatus, 'striped', after the streaked plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Santa Ana, Río Coroico, La Paz, Bolivia.