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Dusky Leaftosser | Sclerurus obscurior
Donkere bladkrabber | Tirahojas oscuro | Vira-folha-de-peito-vermelho
The Dusky Leaftosser is the most widespread leaftosser of the guide area, from the Chocó rainforest to the eastern foothills of the Andes and western Amazonia. For a long time it was treated as part of Tawny-throated Leaftosser, but genetic studies showed that the South American birds form a separate species. It lives on the forest floor and flicks leaves aside with its bill to find prey.
Voice
The song is a series of four to fifteen upslurred whistles that gradually descend, sometimes introduced by a sharp note and ending in short, stuttering notes. Pitch and number of notes vary between regions. The call is a short, sharp, explosive note.
Recording: Sergio Adrian Garcia-Murcia — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
15–17 cm, with a long, straight, thin bill, a short blackish tail and short legs. The upperparts are dark reddish brown to chestnut-brown, with a more rufous rump. The throat is warm ochre to rusty brown, merging into a darker chestnut breast. The upper mandible is dark, the lower mandible two-toned. Birds from the Colombian Andes (andinus) are paler, with a brighter rufous rump; those from the western lowlands are darkest. The sexes are alike. Juveniles are duller, with pale streaks on the breast and a scaly pattern on the throat and breast.
Confusion species
Short-billed Leaftosser Sclerurus rufigularis is smaller, with a clearly shorter bill, and lives in the Amazonian lowlands. Black-tailed Leaftosser Sclerurus caudacutus is larger, with a whitish, scaled throat and no rufous rump. Scaly-throated Leaftosser Sclerurus guatemalensis of the western lowlands has a white, black-scaled throat. Grey-throated Leaftosser Sclerurus albigularis has a greyish-white throat that contrasts sharply with the rufous breast.
Habitat
Humid evergreen forest from the lowlands to lower montane forest, especially on steep slopes and along ravines and streams, from sea level to about 1500 m, locally to over 2000 m. It forages alone or in pairs on the ground for insects and other invertebrates, flicking leaves aside and probing litter and rotting wood. The nest is at the end of a tunnel in an earth bank.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the Pacific lowlands, in the Andes from the Serranía del Perijá southwards, and in the eastern foothills and adjacent Amazonia. In Ecuador in the western lowlands and foothills and on the eastern slope of the Andes. In Peru on the eastern slope of the Andes and in western Amazonia. In Bolivia along the base of the Andes in the north and centre. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazilian Amazonia and eastern Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Walk forest trails slowly in the early morning on steep slopes and along stream valleys, and listen for the descending series of whistles and the rustle of tossed leaves. When disturbed the bird flies off low with a sharp call.
Conservation status
Not Evaluated as a separate species. The range is large, but the species needs closed forest with an intact leaf-litter layer and disappears from heavily fragmented forest.
Scientific name
Sclerurus obscurior | Hartert, 1901
Hartert described the species in 1901 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Sclerurus was introduced in 1827 by Swainson. The genus name combines Greek sklēros, 'stiff', and oura, 'tail'. The species name obscurior is Latin for 'darker', the comparative of obscurus. The specimen the first description was based on came from Lita, Ecuador.