The grey-breasted wood wren (''Henicorhina leucophrys'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family Troglodytidae. It is found from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The grey-breasted wood-wren's taxonomy at the subspecies level is unsettled. According to the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC), it has 17 subspecies. The

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 2022 ...

and Handbook of Birds of the World (HBW) recognize 13 of them.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 15, 2019HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved May 27, 2021 The South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

(SACC/AOS) cites a 2019 publication that "there are as many as 35 lineages within ''H. leucophrys'' that could merit recognition as species under some species concepts."Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 23 May 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 24, 2021

Description

The nominate subspecies of grey-breasted wood wren is long and weighs . Its crown feathers are dull black with dark brown tips. Its nape and shoulders are a dark olive brown and its lower back, rump, and tail chestnut brown. The tail has blackish bars. It has a long gray-white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

, a wide black stripe behind the eye, and black cheeks streaked with pale gray. Its chin and throat are pale gray, the chest and belly a darker gray, and the sides of the belly and the lower flanks a dark buff. The other subspecies differ in size, the intensity of the color of various parts, and the amount, color, and placement of streaking.Kroodsma, D. E., D. Brewer, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Gray-breasted Wood-Wren (''Henicorhina leucophrys''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gbwwre1.01 retrieved July 17, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The grey-breasted wood-wren has a discontinuous range from east-central and west-central Mexico, through Central America, and in South America east into Venezuela and south to central Bolivia. It inhabits humid

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

of many types. In elevation it is usually found above though it occurs as low as in Colombia and in Mexico. It is found as high as in Venezuela and Colombia.

Behavior

Feeding

The grey-breasted wood wren forages singly or in small groups from the ground to only as high as in vegetation. Its diet appears to be solely invertebrates. It has been observed following army ant swarms in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela.

Breeding

The grey-breasted wood wren's breeding season varies throughout its range. For example, it spans from May to June in Mexico, March to June in Costa Rica, and November to June in Ecuador. The nest has a round egg chamber with a downward facing antechamber and is constructed of fibrous rootlets with moss attached to the exterior. It is placed in vegetation up to above the ground, often over a bank or ravine. Two eggs are laid and the female alone incubates them; both sexes feed the young.

Vocalization

The songs and calls of the grey-breasted wood wren vary considerably across its range. In general the songs are "a series of very loud, ringing, energetic musical phrases, frequently repeated". It sings "virtually year-round and throughout the day, in all types of weather" and is "far more commonly heard than seen."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the grey-breasted wood wren as being of Least Concern. "Common or abundant in many habitats...it is not at risk in any country."