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Strong-billed Woodcreeper | Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus
Reuzenmuisspecht | Trepatroncos gigante | Arapaçu-vermelho
The Strong-billed Woodcreeper is the largest woodcreeper of the guide area, with a heavy, slightly decurved bill. It hitches up thick trunks, braced on its stiff tail, and searches moss, epiphytes and bark for large insects and small vertebrates. It is mainly a bird of Andean montane forest, but also occurs locally in the lowlands.
Voice
The song is a series of loud, paired whistles that first rises and then falls, too-eet too-eet too-eet, mainly in the twilight before dawn and after dusk. Also a nasal, descending call.
Recording: Jerome Fischer — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
28–31 cm, large and robust, with a long, heavy, slightly decurved bill and a stiff, rufous tail. The head, neck and mantle are olive-brown with narrow pale streaks; the crown is darker. The throat is pale buff, often bordered by a dark malar stripe. The breast and belly are olive-brown, with pale streaks on the breast and sometimes fine dark barring on the belly. The wings and rump are rufous. The sexes are alike. Streaking and bill colour vary between subspecies; lowland birds often have a paler bill.
Confusion species
Black-banded Woodcreeper Dendrocolaptes picumnus is smaller, with a shorter, straight bill and distinct dark barring on the belly. Northern Barred Woodcreeper Dendrocolaptes sanctithomae and Amazonian Barred Woodcreeper Dendrocolaptes certhia are barred all over rather than streaked. Buff-throated Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus guttatus is smaller and slimmer, with a straighter, thinner bill. Greater Scythebill Drymotoxeres pucheranii has a strongly decurved, sickle-shaped bill and white stripes on the face.
Habitat
Humid montane forest and cloud forest on both slopes of the Andes, mainly between about 1500 and 3000 m, also forest edges and semi-open country with large trees; locally in foothill forest and in the lowlands. It searches thick trunks and branches, often high in the tree, for large insects, spiders, frogs and lizards. It sometimes follows army ants or joins mixed flocks. 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
Colombia: in all three Andean ranges and in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, locally in the lowlands. Ecuador: on both slopes of the Andes, scarce in the eastern lowlands. Peru: along the eastern slope of the Andes and in the north also on the western slope, scarce in the Amazonian lowlands. Bolivia: in the Yungas and the foothills of the eastern slope. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from Mexico through Central America to Venezuela, the Guianas and northern Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
At dusk, listen at the edge of montane forest for the series of paired whistles. During the day it often sits high on a thick, moss-covered trunk, sometimes in a mixed flock with other woodcreepers and tanagers.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species has a very large range, but occurs everywhere at low densities and disappears where large trees are felled.
Scientific name
Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus | (Lesson, 1840)
Lesson described the species in 1840 as Dendrocolaptes promeropirhynchus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Xiphocolaptes was introduced in 1840 by Lesson. The genus name comes from Greek xiphos, 'sword', and kolaptēs, 'chiseller' (woodpecker), referring to the strong bill. The species name combines the genus Promerops with Greek rhunkhos, 'bill'; Promerops was formerly used for a variety of unrelated curve-billed birds. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bogotá, Colombia.