All species › Passerines › Ovenbirds and woodcreepers › Rufous Hornero
Rufous Hornero | Furnarius rufus
Rosse ovenvogel | Hornero común | João-de-barro
The Rufous Hornero is one of the most widespread ovenbirds of South America and the national bird of Argentina. Its domed nest of mud and straw on posts, trees and roofs is a familiar sight in eastern and southern Bolivia. In the guide area it occurs almost only in Bolivia.
Voice
A loud, ringing duet by the pair: a series of shrill notes that speeds up and then slows, the partners standing side by side and flapping their wings. The call is a sharp chek.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
18–20 cm, with a straight to slightly decurved bill and dark legs. The upperparts are fairly uniform warm brown, the tail rufous. A faint, pale supercilium. The throat is whitish, the rest of the underparts pale buff. In flight a rufous wing band is visible. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Pale-legged Hornero Furnarius leucopus in northern Bolivia is more rufous, with a clear white supercilium, a bright white throat and pale legs. Crested Hornero Furnarius cristatus in the Chaco is smaller and paler, with a pointed crest.
Habitat
Open country with scattered trees: pasture, savanna, fields, gardens, villages and towns, also in dry Andean valleys, from the lowlands to about 3000 m. It forages on foot on the ground for insects, larvae and other invertebrates. The nest of mud, dung and straw has a curved passage to the nest chamber and is sometimes reused by other species.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Absent from Colombia, Ecuador and the Galápagos. Peru: at most a few records in the far south-east. Bolivia: widespread in the lowlands of the east and south, and in the dry Andean valleys of Cochabamba, Chuquisaca and Tarija. Outside the guide area in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and central and southern Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and Tarija the species is seen in farmyards, pastures and town squares; look for the mud nests on posts and trees. Pairs often sing together from a roof or an open spot.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species benefits from deforestation and cattle ranching and is expanding its range in many places.
Scientific name
Furnarius rufus | (Gmelin, 1788)
Gmelin described the species in 1788 as Merops rufus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. 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 Latin rufus, 'rufous', for the plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Buenos Aires, Argentina.