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Grey-mantled Wren | Odontorchilus branickii
Grijsrugwinterkoning | Cucarachero dorsigrís | Corruíra-de-manto-cinza
The Grey-mantled Wren is a small, slender wren of the canopy of humid montane forest in the Andes. With its grey back, whitish underparts and long, barred tail it looks more like a gnatcatcher than a wren. It searches for insects along mossy branches high in the trees and often travels with mixed flocks.
Voice
The song is a short, dry trill; also a series of whistled notes and high, thin tsip calls.
Recording: Mauricio Cuellar Ramirez (@Birding.travel) — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
12 cm, with a thin, straight bill and a fairly long tail that is often cocked. The forehead is tawny, the crown darker brown, merging into a grey mantle and a browner rump. The sides of the head and neck are greyish brown, the underparts white with a faint buff wash, and the flanks greyish. The tail is grey with narrow black bars and a pale band near the tip. The sexes are alike; young birds have a stronger buff wash on the breast. Birds of the western slope (subspecies minor) have less barring on the central tail feathers.
Confusion species
Tooth-billed Wren Odontorchilus cinereus has the same shape, but lives in the Amazonian lowlands south of the Amazon and does not overlap with this species. Gnatcatchers such as Tropical Gnatcatcher Polioptila plumbea are equally slender and also cock the tail, but have a plain grey back and an unbarred black-and-white tail.
Habitat
The canopy and upper levels of humid foothill and montane forest and its edges. On the eastern slope mostly between 750 and 2300 m; on the western slope in Colombia and northern Ecuador much lower, mainly between 200 and 500 m. It searches branches, vines and epiphytes for small insects and spiders, often in mixed flocks with tanagers. The nest has not been described; like Tooth-billed Wren it may breed in a tree cavity.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia locally in the south of the Eastern Andes and on the western slope of the Western Andes. In Ecuador along the eastern slope and in the far north-west. In Peru along the eastern slope of the Andes throughout the country. In Bolivia on the eastern slope in the north, mainly in La Paz. Absent from the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Check the canopy with mixed flocks along roads through foothill and montane forest on the eastern slope. The cocked tail and the creeping along mossy branches point to this species.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species lives at low density; forest clearance on the lower slopes reduces its habitat locally.
Scientific name
Odontorchilus branickii | (Taczanowski & Berlepsch, 1885)
Taczanowski & Berlepsch described the species in 1885 as Odontorhynchus branickii; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Odontorchilus was introduced in 1915 by Richmond. The genus name comes from Greek odous, odontos, 'tooth', and orkhilos, 'wren', for the toothed edge of the bill. The species name honours Count Konstanty Grzegorz Branicki (1824–1884), Polish zoologist and collector. The specimen the first description was based on came from Machay, Tungurahua, Ecuador.