All species › Passerines › Ovenbirds and woodcreepers › Spot-crowned Woodcreeper
Spot-crowned Woodcreeper | Lepidocolaptes affinis
Vlekkruinmuisspecht | Trepatroncos corona punteada | Arapaçu-de-coroa-pintada
The Spot-crowned Woodcreeper is a woodcreeper of montane forest in Central America. Formerly the woodcreepers of the Andes were included in the same species; they are now treated as a separate species, the Montane Woodcreeper. Under current taxonomy the Spot-crowned Woodcreeper does not occur in the guide area.
Voice
The song is a high, thin, slightly descending series of notes or a short trill. The call is a sharp, high tseet.
Recording: Matthew L. Brady — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
19–22 cm, with a thin, slightly decurved, pale bill and a rufous tail. The crown is dark brown with small, pale buff spots. The back is brown, the wings and rump rufous. The underparts are brown with narrow, pale, dark-edged streaks, less drop-shaped than in Montane Woodcreeper. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Montane Woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes lacrymiger is very similar, but has broader, drop-shaped streaks below and a slightly different song; it is the only species of this group in the Andes of the guide area. Streak-headed Woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes souleyetii has a streaked rather than spotted crown and lives in the lowlands.
Habitat
Humid montane forest, cloud forest and oak forest with epiphytes in Central America, mainly between about 1000 and 3000 m. It climbs trunks and branches, often in mixed flocks, and searches moss and bark for insects. The nest is 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
Under current taxonomy not confirmed in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia or the Galápagos; records from the guide area almost certainly refer to Montane Woodcreeper, which was formerly included under this name. Outside the guide area in the mountains of Mexico and Central America, south to western Panama.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In the guide area, all woodcreepers of this type in montane forest are Montane Woodcreepers. Spot-crowned Woodcreeper can be found in montane forest in Central America, for example in Costa Rica and Guatemala.
Conservation status
Not evaluated as a separate species in its current circumscription; the former, broadly defined species was listed as Least Concern. The range in Central America is fairly large.
Scientific name
Lepidocolaptes affinis | (de Lafresnaye, 1839)
De Lafresnaye described the species in 1839 as Dendrocolaptes affinis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Lepidocolaptes was introduced in 1853 by Reichenbach. The genus name combines Greek lepis, 'scale', with kolaptēs, 'pecker', after the scaly plumage. The species name comes from Latin affinis, 'related', after its similarity to related species. The specimen the first description was based on came from Mexico.