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Ocellated Piculet | Picumnus dorbignyanus
D'Orbigny's dwergspecht | Carpinterito boliviano | Pica-pau-anão-ocelado
The Ocellated Piculet is the piculet of the eastern slope of the Andes in central and southern Peru and in Bolivia. It lives in montane forest up into the higher Yungas and is marked below with black scales and spots on a white ground. Its scientific name honours the French naturalist Alcide d'Orbigny, who travelled through Bolivia in the 19th century.
Voice
A high, thin, slightly descending trill and single tsit calls. It drums softly on dead twigs.
Recording: Dan Lane — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
10 cm, with a short, straight bill. The crown is black with white dots; the male has red feather tips on the forecrown. The upperparts are greyish brown and almost plain. The cheek is brown with fine pale streaks. The underparts are white, with black scales on the breast that turn into arrowhead spots and irregular bars on the belly. The tail is black, with white inner webs to the central feathers. The female has no red on the head.
Confusion species
White-barred Piculet Picumnus cirratus, lower in south-eastern Bolivia, is evenly barred below. White-wedged Piculet Picumnus albosquamatus is very similar but lives lower, in dry forest and savanna in the eastern lowlands of Bolivia. Fine-barred Piculet Picumnus subtilis is more olive, finely barred below, and lives lower on the eastern slope of Peru. Rufous-breasted Piculet Picumnus rufiventris has rufous underparts.
Habitat
Humid montane forest, cloud forest, forest edges and secondary forest on the eastern slope, roughly between 800 and 2500 m, in Bolivia also in semi-humid forest in the inter-Andean valleys. It forages on thin branches, bamboo and vines in the lower and middle strata, often with mixed flocks. It eats small insects and larvae. It nests in a self-excavated cavity in a dead branch.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Peru on the eastern slope of the Andes, from the centre of the country south to Cusco and Puno. In Bolivia in the Yungas and montane forest of La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, south to Chuquisaca and Tarija. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in north-western Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search forest edges along the Manu road in Cusco or in the Yungas of La Paz in Bolivia, mainly in mixed flocks. Listen for soft tapping in thin branches and bamboo.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species tolerates forest edges and secondary forest and has a fairly large range.
Scientific name
Picumnus dorbignyanus | de Lafresnaye, 1845
De Lafresnaye described the species in 1845 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Picumnus was introduced in 1825 by Temminck. The genus name refers to Picumnus, a Roman god of fertility and agriculture, brother of Pilumnus, whose name is related to Latin picus, 'woodpecker'. The species name honours Alcide d'Orbigny (1802–1857), a French naturalist who travelled in South America from 1826 to 1834. The specimen the first description was based on came from (according to the description).