All species › Passerines › Ovenbirds and woodcreepers › Grey-throated Leaftosser
Grey-throated Leaftosser | Sclerurus albigularis
Grijskeelbladkrabber | Tirahojas gorgigrís | Vira-folha-de-garganta-cinza
The Grey-throated Leaftosser is a leaftosser of the foothills and lower montane forest, with a highly fragmented range from Costa Rica to Bolivia. The greyish-white throat contrasts sharply with the rufous breast. It is closely tied to undisturbed forest and is absent from fragmented forest.
Voice
The song is a series of rising, repeated notes, sometimes with trills. The alarm call is a sharp, squeaky note.
Recording: Jacob Wijpkema — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
16–18 cm, with a medium-length, straight bill, a short black tail and short legs. The crown and mantle are olive-brown to chestnut-brown, the rump is brighter rufous and the side of the head greyish brown. The throat is greyish white to white and contrasts sharply with a dark rufous breast band; the belly is brown. Birds from south-eastern Peru and Bolivia (albicollis) are more rufescent, with a whiter throat. The sexes are alike. Juveniles are duller.
Confusion species
Dusky Leaftosser Sclerurus obscurior has an ochre throat that merges gradually into the breast, without sharp contrast. Black-tailed Leaftosser Sclerurus caudacutus has a scaled whitish throat without a rufous breast band and lives lower, in the Amazonian lowlands. Short-billed Leaftosser Sclerurus rufigularis is smaller, with a rusty throat, and lives in the lowlands.
Habitat
Humid evergreen forest in the foothills and lower montane zone, in Colombia roughly between 500 and 2200 m, in Ecuador mainly between 1000 and 1700 m; locally lower. It forages on the ground in the leaf litter for insects and other invertebrates by flicking leaves aside. 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 Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and in the north-east. In Ecuador locally on the eastern slope of the Andes, from Napo southwards. In Peru on the eastern slope south to Pasco, and scattered in the south-east. In Bolivia in the eastern foothills of the Andes, with a separate population on the Serranía de Huanchaca in Santa Cruz. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and western Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search undisturbed forest in the foothills of the eastern slope, for example along forest trails on slopes, and listen in the early morning for the series of rising notes. Watch for the rustle of leaves on the forest floor.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The population appears stable, but the species is sensitive to deforestation and forest fragmentation.
Scientific name
Sclerurus albigularis | Sclater & Salvin, 1869
Sclater & Salvin described the species in 1869 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 albigularis combines Latin albus, 'white', and gula, 'throat'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cumbre de Valencia, Venezuela.