The olivaceous woodcreeper (''Sittasomus griseicapillus'') is a

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

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 ...

of the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. It belongs to the true

woodcreeper The woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptinae) comprise a subfamily of suboscine passerine birds endemic to the Neotropics. They have traditionally been considered a distinct family Dendrocolaptidae, but most authorities now place them as a subfamily of the ...

s (

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

Dendrocolaptini) of the ovenbird

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

( Furnariidae). It is the only member of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Sittasomus'', but includes 15 vocally and morphologically distinct subspecies in 5 groups, some of which are candidates for a future split.

Description and ecology

This small

is a slender bird, typically long, and weighing . The head, upper back and underparts are lighter or darker greyish olive, and the wings, tail and lower back are light rufous. The bill is short and thin. The normal call is a fast, high-pitched trill ''wu-wu-wu-we-we-we-we-ee-ee-ee-ee-we-we-we-we'', but this varies geographically. It breeds from southern

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 ...

through tropical

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

to northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, and also on

Tobago Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...

. The

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 ...

is found throughout the

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

, but is absent from its lowest reaches, including much of the adjacent

Guyanas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * G ...

. There, the

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the northeastern

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

(''S. g. axillaris'') ranges at least to the

Pakaraima Mountains The Pacaraima or Pakaraima Mountains ( pt, Serra de Pacaraima, es, Sierra de Pacaraima) are a mountain range primarily in southwestern Guyana, and into northern Brazil and eastern Venezuela. Geography The range extends from west to east for over ...

, where it is fairly common at

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

, descending to about ASL on occasion. The olivaceous woodcreeper has also been recorded from extreme southern

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

and the

Essequibo River The Essequibo River (Spanish: ''Río Esequibo'' originally called by Alonso de Ojeda ''Río Dulce'') is the largest river in Guyana, and the largest river between the Orinoco and Amazon. Rising in the Acarai Mountains near the Brazil–Guyana bor ...

(which may be its eastern limit in the region). It is apparently completely absent from eastern Guyana eastwards through

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

and

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

. In Uruguay, the olivaceous woodcreeper was found for the first time in 1997 in the gallery forests of the

Yaguarón River Yaguarón is a city in Paraguay, located at the base of Yaguarón Hill in the Yaguarón District of Paraguarí Department, from the capital Asunción. The town began as a Franciscan reservation for the Guaraní Indians. It contains a famous ...

, in

Cerro Largo Department Cerro Largo Department () is a department of Uruguay. Its capital is Melo. It is located in the east of the country, bordering Brazil to its northeast with Yaguaron River as the natural border, Treinta y Tres Department to its south, Durazno D ...

. Since then, it has also been recorded near

Cuchilla de Mangrullo Cuchilla (plural: cuchillas), Spanish for ''blade'' or ''hill covered by grasslands'' (in the Pampas of Uruguay and Argentina) may refer to: * Cuchilla Alta, a seaside resort in Canelones in Montevideo in Uruguay * Cuchilla de Caraguatá, a r ...

, as well as in the Sierra de los Ríos. The olivaceous woodcreeper is a common and widespread bird of forests and other woodlands. It feeds on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s and

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s. It normally forages on tree trunks or large branches or on the ground, usually singly. These birds may associate with foraging groups of

golden lion tamarin The golden lion tamarin (''Leontopithecus rosalia'', pt, mico-leão-dourado , ), also known as the golden marmoset, is a small New World monkey of the family Callitrichidae. Native to the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil, the golden lion tam ...

s (''Leontopithecus rosalia'') to snatch prey startled by the monkeys. They can also be occasionally seen catching flying prey like

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattode ...

s in mid-air, and will sometimes join

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

s. In some places (e.g. in the

Serra de Paranapiacaba Serra (Latin for " saw") may refer to: People * Serra (footballer) (born 1961), Portuguese footballer * Serra (surname) * Serra (given name) Cities, towns, municipalities Brazil * Serra, Espírito Santo, a city in the Greater Vitória area *Amp ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

), they may even form a core species of such flocks. It builds a nest lined with dead leaves in a tree hole and lays three white eggs. Due to its extremely wide range, the olivaceous woodcreeper is not considered a

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

by 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 ...

Notes

References

External links

*
Photo
a

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q874879

olivaceous woodcreeper The olivaceous woodcreeper (''Sittasomus griseicapillus'') is a passerine bird of the tropical Americas. It belongs to the true woodcreepers (tribe Dendrocolaptini) of the ovenbird family ( Furnariidae). It is the only member of the genus ''Sitt ...

Birds of Mexico Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of the Amazon Basin Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela Birds of Ecuador Birds of Bolivia Birds of Paraguay Birds of Brazil Birds of the Guianas Birds of Trinidad and Tobago

Description and ecology

Notes

References

Further reading

External links