All species › Passerines › Ovenbirds and woodcreepers › Pale-legged Hornero
Pale-legged Hornero | Furnarius leucopus
Bleekpootovenvogel | Hornero patipálido | Casaca-de-couro-amarelo
The Pale-legged Hornero is a rufous-brown ovenbird with a white supercilium, a white throat and pale legs. Two groups occur in the guide area: birds of the arid west of Ecuador and Peru, treated by some authors as a separate species (Pacific Hornero, Furnarius cinnamomeus), and birds of riverbanks in the Amazonian lowlands. Both build the typical oven-shaped mud nest.
Voice
A loud, ringing duet by the pair: a long series of rapid, shrill notes, first accelerating and then slowing, the birds quivering their wings. The call is a short, sharp chek.
Recording: Francisco contreras — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
17–19 cm, with a long, slightly decurved bill and flesh-coloured to pale pink legs. The upperparts are warm rufous-brown, the crown greyish brown. A clear white supercilium contrasts with a dark eyestripe. The throat is white, the breast and belly cinnamon to orange-brown. The tail is rufous. Western birds are somewhat paler, with a greyer crown; Amazonian birds are darker and warmer. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Rufous Hornero Furnarius rufus in Bolivia is plainer brown, with a faint supercilium and dark legs. Lesser Hornero Furnarius minor is smaller, with a grey crown and a faint supercilium, and lives on river islands. Bay Hornero Furnarius torridus is dark chestnut, with a pale bill and a faint supercilium. Caribbean Hornero Furnarius longirostris lives in northern Colombia, outside the range of this species.
Habitat
In the west in dry forest, thorn scrub, fields, pastures, gardens and villages, often near water, from sea level to about 2000 m in dry valleys. In the east along riverbanks, on sandbars with scrub, in open várzea, pasture and around settlements in the lowlands. It forages on foot on the ground for insects and other invertebrates. The domed mud nest sits on a branch, post or roof.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: virtually absent; Caribbean Hornero occurs in the north. Ecuador: in the arid west and south-west. Peru: in the north-west along the coast and the western slope, in the dry Marañón Valley, and in the Amazonian lowlands along larger rivers. Bolivia: widespread in the northern and central lowlands, especially along rivers and in savanna. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Amazonian Brazil and the Guianas.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In western Ecuador and north-western Peru the species is seen along roads, in villages and in farmyards; in Amazonia along riverbanks and pastures. Pairs often sing together from an open spot on the ground or a branch.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species tolerates human-modified landscapes well and is common over much of its range.
Scientific name
Furnarius leucopus | Swainson, 1838
Swainson described the species in 1838 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Furnarius was introduced in 1816 by Vieillot. The genus name comes from Latin furnarius, 'baker' (from furnus, 'oven'), for the oven-shaped mud nest. The species name comes from Ancient Greek leukos, 'white', and pous, 'foot', for the pale legs. The specimen the first description was based on came from Guyana.